,^AVNK 


^,t  \\\t  ShcolofliVaf  ^^ 


O'C/J 


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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


"'"% 


BL  85  .B72  1890 

Brace,  Charles  Loring,  1826- 

1890. 
The  unknown  God 


S/u'// 


XOW   JtEADY, 

FIFTH    THOUSAND    OF 
Mr.  CHARLES    LORING    BRACE'S 

GESTA   CHRISTI, 

OK 

A     HISTORY    OF     HUMANE    PROGRESS 
UNDER     CHRISTIANITY. 

Crown  8vo.   Cloth.    $1.50. 

Coiies  sent  postpaid,   on  receipt  of  price,  hy 

A.  0.  AKMSTEONG  &  SON,  New  York. 


THE 


UNKiNOWN    GOD 


INSPIRATION  AMONG  PRE-CHRISTIAN  RACES 


C.    LORING    BRACE 

AUTHOR    OF    "GESTA    CHRISTI,"   "RACES    OF   THE    OLD   WORLD,"   ETC. 


A.   C.   ARMSTRONG  AND    SON 
1890 


(all    rights    RESERVED) 


Copyright,  1889, 
By  Charles  Loring   Brace. 


5B[ntbcrsftg  3|ress: 
John'  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge. 


PREFACE. 


"\'X7HAT  may  be  called  the  "modern  method"  in 
studying  ethnic  or  heathen  rehgions  is  not,  as  was 
once  the  case,  merely  to  search  for  their  defects,  or  to 
show  their  inferiority  to  the  highest  religion,  but  to  find 
what  good  there  was  in  them ;  to  see  how  the  man  of 
other  races  and  times  regarded  the  problems  of  the  uni- 
verse. We  wish  to  know  what  was  his  conception  of  the 
primeval  Cause,  what  he  considered  his  relation  to  be  to 
that  strange  power,  and  how  far  that  relation  affected 
his  daily  life  and  practical  morals.  We  would  gladly 
know  how  he  regarded  the  great  darkness  beyond  life, 
and  what  thoughts  he  conceived  of  another  life  and  of 
the  beings  there.  We  eagerly  seek  to  learn  what  moral 
ideals  and  conceptions  he  transferred  to  another  exist- 
ence, and  how  far  he  succeeded  in  lifting  the  great  veil 
which  hangs  before  it.  We  try  to  stand  in  his  foot- 
steps and  to  see  the  great  mystery  as  he  endeavored  to 
see    it.      We    do    not    feel    it    necessary    to    laugh    at    his 


vi  PREFACE. 

vagaries  or   sneer   at   his   imaginations;    wc  merely  seek 
to  gaze   at  the  universe  as  he  gazed  at  it. 

And  in  doing  this  we  have  a  still  further  object;  we 
expect  to  find  with  man  in  all  ages  and  races  some  evi- 
dences of  the  inspiration  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and  to 
discover  traces  of  God  and  higher  inspirations  in  the 
remotest  annals  and  records  of  mankind. 

In  this  volume  the  writer  has  taken  for  his  special  theme 
the  words  used  by  Saint  Paul  in  his  sermon  on  Mars  Hill, 
"  The  Unknown  God,"  —  words  which  the  great  Apostle 
applied  also  to  the  spiritual  Zeus  of  the  ancient  Greeks. 
The  effort  of  the  writer  is  to  show  the  ancient  belief  of 
mankind  in  the  Unknown  God,  and  that  the  great  Father 
of  all  has  granted  his  inspirations  to  many  of  very  different 
countries  and  tribes  and  races.  This  volume  is  in  some 
respects  a  search  for  the  footprints  of  the  Divine  Being  on 
the  shifting  sands  of  remote  history. 

The  first  chapters  deal  with  the  Hamitic  and  Semitic 
races.  P^ortunately  the  latest  investigations  in  the  early 
inscriptions  of  Egypt  show  that  there  was  a  period  (not 
the  earliest)  in  which  a  profound  belief  in  the  One  God 
existed  in  the  minds  of  the  scholars  and  priests  of  that 
ancient  country.  From  this  field  the  student  is  con- 
ducted to  the  Semitic  tribes  in  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates. 
There  among  an  ancient  race  —  probably  Semitic  —  called 


PREFACE.  vii 

Akkadian,  are  found  remarkable  penitential  psalms  and 
devout  prayers  stamped  with  a  religious  spirit  which 
had  seemed  peculiar  to  another  Semitic  tribe,  the  Jews  ; 
they  certainly  bear  evidence  of  inspiration  from  the 
Unknown   God. 

The  investigation  then  turns  to  the  Aryan  races,  and  evi- 
dence is  adduced  from  the  remarkable  associations  which 
existed,  like  secret  churches,  among  the  Greeks,  called  the 
Mysteries.  From  the  rites  of  these  secret  societies  the 
belief  in  God  and  a  future  judgment  is  discovered,  and 
shown  to  have  been  held  in  secret  by  a  certain  number 
of  believers.  The  investigation  then  enters  the  field  of 
the  early  Greek  poetry,  and  presents  the  faith  in  a  spirit- 
ual God,  or  Zeus,  before  the  idea  had  been  degraded  by 
the  myth-making  fancy.  The  evidence  from  the  Greek 
dramatists  and  many  of  the  ancient  writers  is  here  over- 
whelming that  one  spiritual  God  was  at  certain  periods 
adored  by  considerable  numbers  of  the  Greek  race. 

The  religion  of  Plato  and  Socrates  and  the  faith  of 
the  Stoics  are  then  examined  for  evidences  of  pure 
monotheism  and  of  genuine  religion.  Copious  extracts 
are  given  from  the  Stoical  writers,  to  show  what  their 
genuine  religious  belief  was. 

The  course  of  the  inquiry  then  turns  to  the  Oriental 
Aryan  races  ;   and  the  Zoroastrian  religion  is  investigated, 


viii  PREFACE. 

to  show  the  purity  of  its  character  and  its  elevated  views 
on  truth  and  moral  purit}',  and  on  the  character  of 
Orniazd. 

From  the  Persians  the  study  passes  to  the  Hindus; 
and  the  old  \'edic  h}-mns  furnish  the  proof  of  Hindu 
monotheism  in  the  worship  of  Varuna,  the  Heaven- 
God.  In  both  these  chapters  extracts  are  given  from 
the  Persian  and  Hindu  religious  writings.  The  fullest 
description  in  the  book  is  devoted  to  the  Buddhist  faith, 
with  copious  extracts  from  the  Dhammapada  and  other 
sacred  writings  of  that  religion.  The  author  regards 
Buddha  as  in  a  high  degree  inspired,  and  as  an  instru- 
ment in  the  hands  of  Providence  for  the  elevation  and 
purification  of  Asia.  A  contrast  is  drawn  between  the 
l^uddhistic  and  Christian  faiths,  and  the  causes  which 
have  impeded  the  success  of  Buddhism  are  traced.  The 
final  chapter  is  on  the  Biblical  argument  for  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  heathen  ;  and  suggestions  are  given  as  to  the 
principles  which  should  guide  the  missionary  in  his  re- 
ligious teachings,  especially  among  the  Buddhists. 

The  work,  it  should  be  remembered,  is  not  designed 
as  a  critical  attack  on  the  heathen  religions,  or  as  a  de- 
fence of  Christianity,  by  contrasting  its  superior  truths 
with  those  of  other  faiths.  The  object  is  rather  to  show 
what  great  truths  have  inspired  the  pious  heathen  of  the 


PREFACE.  ix 

past,  and  how  far  the  influences  of  the  Divine  Spirit  have 
reached  remote  and  separated  tribes  of  men  and  revealed 
to  them  the  nature  of  God,  and  their  duties  to  their  fellow- 
men.  It  is  an  effort  to  make  manifest  the  ways  of  God 
to  men  in  a  field  not  hitherto  much  traversed.  It  is  be- 
lieved the  most  devout  disciple  of  Christianity  will  find 
little  to  shock  his  faith  in  these  presentations,  but  will 
rather  be  strengthened  by  this  broader  view  of  the  provi- 
dence of  God  to  men. 

C.  LORING   BRACE. 

Chesknoll,  Dobbs  Ferry,  N.  Y. 
December,  i88q. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

Preface •  v 

I.     Egyptian  Monotheism i 

II.     The  Jews  and  Egyptians 41 

III.  Akkadian  Penitential  Psalms 51 

IV.  The  Greek  Mysteries '■  78 

V.     Zeus  as  Spiritual  God 9° 

VI.     The  Religion  of  Socrates  and  Plato      .     .  106 

VII.     The  Faith  of  the  Stoics 120 

VIII.     The  Faith  of  the  Stoics.  —  Seneca    ...  133 

IX.     Stoical  Writings.  —  Epictetus i44 

X.     Stoical  Writings.  —  Marcus  Aurelius     .     .  152 

XI.     Review 167 

XII.     Zoroastrianism 182 

XIII.  Hinduism 198 

XIV,  Buddhism 224 

XV.     Sacred  Writings  of  Buddhism 255 

XVI.     Review 290 

XVII.     Heathen  Inspiration  and  the  Scriptures   .  299 

XVIII.     The  Conversion  of  Non-Christian  Nations  309 

XIX.     Conclusion 317 

Appendix 321 

Index ' 3^3 


Ye  whose  hearts  are  fresh  and  simple^ 
Who  have  faith  in   God  and  Nature, 
Who  believe  that  in  all  ages 
Every  human  heart  is  hiunan, 
Ihat  in  even  savage  bosojus 
There  are  longings,  yearnings,  strivings 
For  the  good  they  eoniprehend  not. 
That  the  feeble  hands  and  helpless. 
Groping  blindly  in  the  darhiess. 
Touch   God's  right  hand  in  that  darkness, 
And  are  lifted  up  and  strengthened,  — 
Listen  / 

Longfellow's  Hiawatha. 


THE    UNKNOWN    GOD; 

OR, 

INSPIRATION  AMONG  PRE-CHRISTIAN  PEOPLES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

EGYPTIAN   MONOTHEISM. 

I    AM    HE  THAT   IS   AND   WAS   AND    SHALL   BE. 

Inscription  on  the  Temple  of  Isis. 

'T^HE  only  conception  of  the  moral  action  of  the 
■*-  Divine  Being  on  the  human  soul  which  is  a  priori 
defensible  and  philosophical,  is  of  a  continued  and  im- 
partial influence,  limited  to  no  time,  or  age,  or  race.  It 
should  be  like  the  great  physical  forces,  —  like  gravity, 
magnetism,  or  electricity,  forever  acting  in  all  particles  of 
matter,  but  not  always  manifesting  themselves,  sometimes 
resisted,  often  unseen,  but  eternally  w^orking  toward  defi- 
nite ends. 

Religion,  if  it  be  the  binding  of  human  beings  to  the 
Unseen  Power  of  the  universe,  and  Revelation,  or  the 
manifestation  of  his  nature  to  men,  must  have  been  reali- 
ties and  phenomena  through  all  ages  of  human  history, 
and    as    definite    and    sustaining  to  the  first  savage  who 


2  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

sharpened  his  flints  in  the  tertiary  period,  or  the  first  cave- 
dweller  whose  mental  faculties  had  grasped  the  idea  of  a 
cause,  as  to  the  saint  of  the  middle  ages  or  the  religious 
philosopher  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  conceptions 
of  the  "  fossil  savage  "  and  of  the  modern  thinker  would 
not  be  the  same,  but  they  would  have  great  elements  in 
common.  Both  would  bow  in  unspeakable  awe  before  the 
vast  and  incomprehensible  Mystery  behind  the  things 
seen;  both  would  depend  utterly  on  this  Infinite  and  Un- 
known Power,  wdiether  manifested  in  one  being  or  many 
beings;  both  would  bend  their  wills  to  the  eternal  Will,  or 
wills ;  and  both  would  seek  to  guide  their  lives  by  what 
had  been  revealed  to  them  of  the  qualities  and  purposes 
of  the  tremendous  Being,  or  beings,  unseen  yet  ever  felt. 
The  man  of  the  flint  ages  w^ould  undoubtedly  be  capable 
of  grasping  but  few,  and  those  the  simplest,  truths ;  but 
as  his  race  gradually  rose  in  the  scale,  its  members  would 
be  open  more  and  more  to  the  higher  divine  influences 
which  were  ever  acting  around  them,  and  attaining  thus 
to  purer  and  grander  conceptions.  Then,  from  reasons 
which  we  cannot  always  explain,  —  perhaps  connected 
with  the  freedom  of  the  human  will,  —  some  branch  or  de- 
scendant of  the  savage  race  would  arise  which  was  pecul- 
iarly sensitive  to  these  unseen  influences,  which  became 
inspired  with  moral  and  spiritual  truths,  and  was  especially 
open  to  inspiration  from  above. 

This  tribe  or  nation  has  become   inspired  with   religion, 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  3 

and  seems  at  once  to  make  a  great  bound  in  spiritual 
growth.  Truths  are  revealed  to  it  that  move  men  through 
all  succeeding  time  ;  and  lives  appear  in  such  a  people,  so 
controlled  by  these  inspirations  and  so  animated  by  moral 
and  unseen  powers,  that  the  memories  and  the  legends  of 
them  survive  all  other  traditions,  and  never  cease  to  con- 
sole or  elevate  or  purify  mankind.  On  the  other  hand, 
other  races  appear  in  history  —  why,  we  cannot  say  —  less 
open  to  the  divine  influences,  and  thus  manifesting  them 
less,  and  tending  toward  a  lower  and  more  selfish  animal 
life.  Yet  among  such  races  there  are  probably  far  more 
humane,  sympathetic,  and  spiritual  lives,  passed  in  obscu- 
rity, than  human  records  ever  describe.  We  know  but 
little  of  the  morals  or  religion  of  the  remote  past.  What 
we  do  know,  we  judge  of  by  tests  entirely  inapplicable,  and 
interpret  an  ancient  poetic  symbolism  by  a  modern  and 
exact  glossary. 

It  is  a  side  evidence  of  the  spiritual  inspiration  of  ancient 
or  barbarous  races  that  so  many  tribes  of  men  in  all  ages 
have  a  tradition  or  legend  of  a  moral  Benefactor  of  their 
race,  who  came*  from  above,  bore  human  ills,  sought  to 
scatter  happiness  and  enlightenment  among  men,  and.  per- 
haps perished  at  last  in  the  struggle  with  evil  on  earth,  to 
appear  again  among  the  stars,  or  to  await  his  faithful  fol- 
lowers in  the  region  of  the  blessed.  Even  "  sun-myths," 
subsequently  attached  to  such  traditions,  would  not  dis- 
prove the  substantial  historical  truth  of  the  original  story; 


4  THE    UXKXOU'aW  GOD. 

nor  would  the  tendency  of  the  human  mind  to  frame 
its  ideals  in  legends  demonstrate  that  no  such  ideal  bene- 
factors had  arisen.  The  strength  and  purity  of  the  feel- 
ings and  practices  which  gather  around  such  memories  are 
perhaps  the  best  test  of  their  reality.  Under  a  continuity 
of  spiritual  influences  through  all  ages,  such  lives  are  natu- 
ral and  to  be  expected.  And  even  if  some  of  these  be 
imagined,  the  ideal  shows  the  moral  forces  working  on  the 
hearts  of  men,  and  the  truths  which  had  here  and  there 
dawned  on  them. 

The  highest  forms  of  spiritual  thought  and  the  purest 
ideals  of  religion  would  probably  be  developed  in  connec- 
tion with  a  certain  advancement  of  civilization  or  of  intel- 
lectual life ;  and  yet  they  would  not  necessarily  follow 
mental  progress.  To  the  savage  and  unreflecting  mind 
the  conception  of  one  Power  behind  the  universe  comes 
later  than  the  thought  of  many  powers,  though  even  with 
the  earliest  religious  beliefs  will  be  a  faith  in  one  unseen 
Being  who  is  greater  than  other  similar  beings.  And  it 
is  perfectly  possible  that  a  healthful,  independent,  roving 
tribe,  —  like  some  branch  of  the  Semitic  race,  —  much  in 
contact  with  Nature  and  not  corrupted  by  luxury,  might 
be  more  open  to  the  unseen  spiritual  influences,  and 
thus  reach  a  grander  conception  of  the  mystery  of  the 
universe,  than  some  races  much  more  developed  intellect- 
ually and  materially. 

If   we    search    human    records    for    the    most    ancient 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  5 

civilization,  we  unquestionably  come  at  once  upon  the 
Egyptian.  To  the  student  among  the  Greek  and  the 
Roman  races  in  their  prime,  the  founders  of  the  magnifi- 
cent temples  and  gigantic  tombs  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile 
seemed  as  remote  as  they  do  to  us.  Indeed,  it  may  with 
truth  be  said  that  the  modern  European  and  American 
student  of  archaeology  knows  more  of  that  antique  civili- 
zation than  did  Herodotus  or  Plutarch.  Whatever  doubts 
may  linger  about  the  exact  numbers  of  the  Egyptian  chro- 
nology, whether  certain  lines  of  kings  were  synchronous 
or  successive,  the  general  conclusion  can  hardly  be  ques- 
tioned by  scholars,  that  far  back  in  the  shadowy  ages  of 
the  past,  thousands  of  years  before  the  first  dawn  of  Greek 
culture,  centuries  before  Moses  or  Abraham  or  the  re- 
ceived dates  of  the  Flood,  a  remarkably  organized  civiliza- 
tion and  highly  developed  religion  existed  in  the  lower 
Nile  valley,  shut  apart  from  the  world,  though  destined  to 


EGYPTIAN   RELIGION. 

Till  comparatively  recent  years  the  modern  student 
was  under  the  double  misfortune  of  knowing  the  Egyptian 
religion  only  through  a  symbolism  utterly  foreign  to  our 
mental  habits,  and  then  through  Greek  and  Roman  in- 
terpreters. If  the  reader  will  imagine  so  strange  a  calam- 
ity  as    that    the    Christian    religion    had    utterly   perished 


6  THE    i'X KNOWN  COD. 

from  the  earth  in  the  fifth  or  sixth  century,  and  that  its 
documents  had  been  hidden  or  destroyed,  and  it  could 
on))'  be  known  through  its  symbohsm  and  art,  and 
through  Greek  and  Latin  historians,  he  will  have  some 
slight  appreciation  of  our  relation  to  the  Egyptian 
religion. 

In  such  a  case  as  we  have  supposed,  we  would  have 
learned  from  the  noblest  and  purest  Roman  historian  that 
this  dead  religion  was  a  "  detestable  superstition ;  "  from 
another  that  its  followers  indulged  in  shameful  orgies  of 
lust,  and  resorted  to  human  sacrifice;  from  others  among 
the  Greeks  of  apparently  the  highest  moral  sympathies, 
living  within  fifty  or  sixty  years  of  the  death  of  its 
founder,  we  would  not  hear  a  word  of  its  doctrines,  or 
its  marvels,  or  the  wonderful  life  of  its  originator.  From 
its  symbolism  and  art,  students  of  archaeology  would 
have  inferred  as  to  this  extinct  faith  that  its  central  deity 
was  an  aged  man  with  flowing  locks,  of  noble  and  ven- 
erable countenance,  that  it  worshipped  also  a  goddess  of 
fair  appearance  with  a  wonderful  child,  that  it  believed 
in  a  marriage  of  this  divinity  with  a  higher  deity,  and 
also  that  it  adored  a  sad  man  of  suffering  who  had  been 
executed  as  a  criminal.  They  would  also  discover  animal 
worship  in  the  adoration  of  the  lamb  and  the  dove,  and 
in  the  figures  of  gods  with  the  heads  of  the  lion,  the 
eagle,  the  bull,  and  the  pigeon.  They  would  detect,  be- 
sides, the  struggles  of  the  good  and  evil  principles  in  the 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  7 

pictures  of  gods  of  frightful  aspect  contending  with  gods 
of  benignant  countenance,  and  they  would  find  pictures  of 
heaven  which  were  merely  the  continuance  of  the  familiar 
pastoral  scenes  of  Italy  and  Germany. 

No  doubt,  too,  as  time  passed  away  and  the  facts  and 
traditions  connected  with  the  life  of  the  great  founder  of 
this  religion  had  become  vague  and  shadowy,  solar  myths 
would  attach  themselves  to  its  incidents ;  the  twelve  apos- 
tles would  become  the  twelve  months,  the  day  of  nativity 
would  be  the  day  of  the  sun's  return  northward,  his  death 
would  be  an  eclipse,  the  name  which  this  supposed 
god  gave  himself,  the  "  Light  of  the  World,"  would  indi- 
cate the  solar  origin  of  the  story,  and  his  resurrection 
would  be  the  emerging  of  the  sun  from  the  deep  shadow, 
and  the  life  and  light  which  follow  it.^  It  would  require 
but  a  brief  time  and  little  imagination  to  attach  a  solar 
myth  to  the  Gospel  narrative,  provided  the  facts  had 
become  obscured. 

When   Herodotus   visited    Egypt    in    the    third   century  \\ 
before   Christ,  or  when   Diodorus  wrote  of   it  about  the 
time  of  Christ,  or  Plutarch  gathered  the  legend  of  Osiris 
from    Egyptian    sources    within    seventy   or    eighty  years 
after,  the    Egyptian   religion  was   a  tiling  of  the  remote 

^  The  Christmas  chant  is  well  known,  "  Sol  novus  oritur,"  and  the 
midsummer  festival  of  bonfires  to  Saint  John  the  Baptist.  The  words, 
"  He  must  increase  but  I  must  decrease,"  might  well  have  a  solar 
interpretation. 


8  THE    Ui\ KNOWN  GOD. 

past,  at  a  greater  distance  from  Herodotus  or  Plutarch 
than  these  are  from  us.  The  ancient  faith  had  degener- 
ated into  extreme  polytheism,  or  idol  worship,  except 
among  those  initiated  in  its  "mysteries,"  and  there  was 
only  a  tradition  or  vague  impression  among  other  peoples 
of  the  purity  and  grandeur  of  the  belief  of  the  early 
Egyptians.  The  excessive  and  peculiar  symbolism  of  this 
race  served  also  both  to  hide  their  real  conceptions  from 
foreign  races  and  gradually  to  degrade  their  own  beliefs. 
Close  observers,  like  Herodotus,  saw  clearly  that  they 
believed  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  others  that 
they  looked  forward  to  a  coming  moral  judgment.  Their 
faith  in  this  great  moral  reckoning  of  mankind  in  a  future 
life  no  doubt  influenced  some  of  Plato's  ideals  pictured  in 
his  myths.  The  Jews  may  have  derived  certain  spiritual 
conceptions  and  portions  of  ritual  from  them,  and  no  doubt 
through  Alexandria  and  the  platonizing  Jews  some  of  their 
most  ancient  beliefs  reached  the  apostles,  and  through 
them  have  come  down  to  modern  times.  But  in  general 
it  may  safely  be  said  that  we  know  much  more  of  the  an- 
cient Egyptian  religion  than  did  the  Greeks  or  Romans. 

In  the  remotest  ages  of  human  history  certain  dwellers 
in  the  Nile  valley,  perhaps  gazing  into  the  solemn  depths 
of  the  tropical  night,  or  watching  the  majestic  courses  of 
the  stars,  or  seeing  the  sudden  and  resplendent  rising  of 
the  glorious  orb  of  the  sun  over  the  silent  desert  sands, 
received    in    awe-struck  wonder  the    grandest   inspiration 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  9 

which  can  come  to  the  human  soul  from  the  unseen: 
even  the  thought  of  a  Power,  inimitable,  incomprehen- 
sible, eternal,  behind  all  the  phenomena  of  the  universe, 
above  and  behind  the  varied  personalities  of  mythology 
and  polytheism;  the  One  awful  beyond  expression,  endur- 
ing while  all  things  change,  filling  immensity  and  eternity, 
self-created,  the  one  original,  before  whom  was  nothing, 
and  in  whose  presence  the  earth  and  heavens  are  but  as 
a  morning  cloud;  "living  in  truth,"  ^  "truth  itself,"  the 
essence  of  "  righteousness,"  terrible  to  evil-doers,  yet 
merciful,  beneficent,  full  of  love.  Here  to  the  ancient 
Egyptian  was  a  Being,  vast  beyond  imagination  to  con- 
ceive, and  yet  inspiring  and  directing  each  believer,  —  a 
being  who  lived  in  righteousness,  and  demanded  right- 
eousness, or  "  truth,"  of  all  those  worshipping  and  loving 
him.  Their  wills  must  be  submitted  to  his  will.  He 
guided  and  blessed  them  in  life,  and  the  happiness  of 
eternity  was  to  be  in  union  with  him.- 

This  dread  invisible  "  concealed  "  Being  manifests  him- 
self through  various  persons  or  divinities.  He  creates 
through  "Thoth,"  his  spirit,  or  "word."  Thoth  is  his 
manifestation  as  word,  or  truth.  He  creates  from  himself 
through  the  word.  Without  Thoth  is  nothing  made,  and 
Thoth  is  God.'^ 

^  Words  often  used  in  the  Book  of  the  Dead. 
2  Book  of  the  Dead. 

8  Brugsch,  p.  58.  "  Of  his  own  will  he  brought  us  forth  hy  the  word 
of  truth  "  (James  i.  18).     "  I  call  to  witness  the  ivord  of  the  Father 


10  THE   UNKNOWN  COD. 

Saint  John  (i.  1-3)  precisely  describes  the  oldest  Egyp- 
tian faith.  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the 
Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God.  The  same 
was  in  the  beginning  with  God.  All  things  were  made 
by  him,  and  without  him  was  not  anything  made  that  is 
made." 

The  word  used  for  the  original  source  of  all  things, 
Xoper,^  according  to  Brugsch,  means  the  cause  of  all 
being  and  becoming.  This  creates  from  himself  through 
the  word,  or  Thoth,  not  from  any  "  stuff"  or  things  exist- 
ing. "  Hail  to  thee,  creator,  body  of  God  who  buildeth 
his  own  body  when  heaven  was  not  and  earth  was  not."^ 
Thousands  of  prayers  are  addressed  to  Xoper:  "Thou 
wert  first;  nothing  was  then.  Thou  makest  what  is  there." 
"  Nothing  was  before  thee,  the  Only  or  Self-born."  "  He 
was  from  the  beginning,  when  nothing  was."     "The  heart 

which  he  first  spoke  when  he  established  the  universe  by  his  will  " 
(Orpheus's  words,  quoted  by  Justin  Martyr,  Orat.  ad  gentes).  It  should 
be  said  here  that  the  word  "  Truth,"  of  such  frequent  and  remarkable 
use  in  Egyptian  religious  writings,  is  expressed  by  a  sign,  meaning 
rule  or  vieasure,  like  our  word  righteousness.  It  means  what  is 
straight,  conformed  to  rule,  and  true  ;  what  is  enduring  and  harmo- 
nious and  real;  what  is  good  forever.  The  triumph  of  truth  is  the 
triumph  of  goodness.  Truth  is  the  end  of  man.  The  "  justified '"  is 
the  man  held  true  and  good.  God  is  truth.  Plutarch  describes  the 
amulet  which  protects  Isis  as  the  (^imvi)  aXrjdrjs,  "Voice  of  truth  "  (Isis 
and  Osiris,  Ixviii.),  as  if  that  were  tlie  favorite  phrase  of  the  Egyptians. 

^  Religion  und  Mythologie  der  alten  Aegypter,  p-  51  ;  H.  Brugsch, 
1885.     See  also  De  Rougd. 

2  Brugsch,  p.  58. 


EG  YP  TIA  N  MONO  THEISM.  1 1 

of  Ra,  the  tongue  of  Turn,  the  throat  of  the  god  (Am- 
mon)  whose  name  is  hidden,"  says  Brugsch,^  "  all  mean 
one  God ;  "  and  Thoth  is  the  manifestation  of  that  god 
as  Word. 

An  inscription  on  the  Temple  of  Dendera  proclaims  the 
"  revelation  of  the  light-god,  Ra,  being  from  the  beginning 
[through]  Thoth,  who  rests  in  truth ;  what  flows  from 
his  heart  works  on,  and  what  he  has  spoken  stands  for 
eternity."  ^ 

When  these  ancient  inscriptions  were  chiselled  in  the 
granite  near  the  Nile,  before  Moses  or  Abraham,  the  cul- 
ture and  religion  of  the  Egyptians  had  passed  from  their 
low  condition.  Mighty  buildings  had  been  erected,  de- 
manding a  remarkable  knowledge  of  mechanical  princi- 
ples, a  complex  society  was  created,  and  the  faith  of  this 
race  was  developed  from  a  belief  in  the  heavens  as  god 
to  a  heaven-god,  and  again  from  a  sun-god  to  one  who 
said  to  the  sun,  "  Come  unto  us !  "  ^ 

Philosophers  note  that  these  ancient  Egyptian  titles  of 
deity  do  not  in  general  take  their  origin  from  the  heavens 
or  the  light,  or  from  sensual  images,  as  with  the  Aryan  and 
other  races,  but  are  derived  from  deeper  and  more  philo- 
sophic ideas  of  cause  and  origin  and  independent  eter- 
nal being.     In  this  they  seem  nearer  the  ancient  Semitic 

1  Biugsch,  p.  50. 

2  Ibid.,  E.  Meyer;   Set.  Typhon.     1875. 

^  Book  of  the  Dead,  v.  21  :  Words  of  creative  power. 


12  THE    UXKNOWN  GOD. 

Hebrew  name  of  the  Self-existent.^  They  are  such  as 
Xoper,  (Being),  Amnion  (the  Concealed),  Ra  (the  Origi- 
nal), Ptah  (artist),  Xnum  (builder  or  potter),  Sebak  (con- 
triver), etc. 

Only  Osiris  2  {os  or  us,  periodic  force)  seems  to  relate  to 
the  sun.  But  behind  all  these  separate  gods  is  the  One, 
unnamable,  eternal,  infinite.  They  all  seem  only  forms,  or 
manifestations,  of  the  original  being.^  Before  they  could 
express  it  in  language,  the  Egyptians  possessed  the  intui- 
tion or  felt  the  power  of  this  boundless  creator  and  father. 
From  innumerable  of  the  oldest  documents  it  is  clear,  says 
Brugsch,  that  to  the  ancient  Egyptians  God  and  the  uni- 
verse were  as  soul  and  body.  God  was  a  spirit  dwelling 
in  his  cosmic  house  which  he  had  furnished  and  built."^ 

In  analyzing  the  ancient  belief  of  the  priests  and  think- 
ers and  artists  of  the  Nile  valley,  we  find  everywhere  the 
statements  that  God  is  One  and  alone,  and  no  other  near 
him,  the  one  who   has   made   all.     A  Theban   inscription 

1  Jahveh,  —  I  am  that  I  am. 

2  Brugsch. 

^  He  is  the  holy  spirit  who  begets  gods;  who  takes  on  forms,  but 
who  remains  unknown  (Book  of  the  Dead,  xv.  46).  The  substance 
of  the  gods  is  the  body  of  God  (xvii.  75). 

^  Brugsch.  The  Egyptians  frequently  group  these  manifestations 
of  the  Original  One  in  triads.  Thus,  Xoper  (Being),  Turn  (the  Un- 
known), and  Ra  make  a  triad.  In  the  Boston  Art  Museum  (No.  634) 
may  be  seen  two  sets  of  triad  Egyptian  figures,—  Ptah,  Horus,  and 
Keph;  and  Ptah,  Horus,  and  Thoth.  A  stdle  of  the  nineteenth 
dynasty  speaks  of  God  as  "  Father  and  Son,"  at  Thebes  and  Memphis 
(Rev.  Arch.,  p.  357.     i860). 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  13 

says  of   God   in   his   form  of  Ammon :    "  The   concealed 
spirit,  a  mystery  for  him  whom  he  hath  created,  is  Am- 
nion the  ancient  of  days,  who  is  from  the  beginning,  the 
creator  of  heaven,  earth,  the  depth,  and  the  mountains." 
A  remarkable  hymn  to  Ammon  Ra  thus  invokes  him : 

"  Author  of  the  pastures  which  feed  the  beasts  and  the  plants 
which  nourish  man ;  he  who  feedeth  the  fishes  of  the  river  and 
the  fowls  of  the  air ;  he  giveth  the  bread  of  life  to  the  germ  yet 
concealed  in  the  egg  ;  he  feedeth  the  flying  and  creeping  insects  ; 
he  provideth  food  for  the  mouse  in  his  hole  and  the  birds  in  the 
forests.  Homage  to  thee,  author  of  all  forms,  the  One  who  is 
alone,  whose  arms  extend  and  multiply  everywhere,  thou  who 
watchest  over  rulers  when  they  repose,  who  lookest  for  the  good  of 
thy  creatures  !  God  Ammon  who  preservest  all  that  is  !  Homage 
to  thee  because  thou  abidest  in  us  [or  because  of  thy  immanence 
in  us] !  We  prostrate  ourselves  before  thy  face  because  thou 
hast  produced  us.  Homage  to  thee,  by  all  creatures  !  Praise  to 
thee  in  every  region,  —  in  the  heights  of  the  heavens,  in  the  spaces 
of  the  earth,  in  the  depths  of  the  seas  !  The  gods  bow  before 
thy  majesty  and  exalt  the  soul  of  him  who  produced  them,  happy 
that  their  creator  abideth  in  them  (or  at  the  immanence  of  their 
generator  in  them).  They  say -to  thee:  'Be  in  peace,  O  Father 
of  the  fathers  of  the  gods,  who  hast  hung  the  heavens  and  planted 
the  earth.  Author  of  things  !  Creator  of  blessings  !  Prince  su- 
preme !  Chief  of  gods  !  We  adore  thy  majesty  at  the  moment 
in  which  thou  producest  us.  Thou  begettest  us,  and  we  cry  out 
to  thee  to  dwell  in  us.'  "  ^ 

Or  again,  take  this  ancient  and  lofty  inscription  of  praise 

to  Ammon  Ra:  ^  — 

1  Translated  by  Grebaut  ;   Museum  of  Boulaq. 

-  Chabas,  Pap  Hav.  ;  Records  of  the  Past;  Trad.  pap.  Mag.,  Harris. 


14  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

"  Vast  in  his  largeness  without  Hmit.  Virtue  supreme,  in  mys- 
terious forms !  Soul  mysterious  !  Author  of  his  fearful  power,  life 
holy  and  strong,  created  by  himself;  brilliant,  illuminating,  daz- 
zling !  Soul  more  soul  than  the  gods,  thou  art  concealed  in  great 
Amnion !  Old  man  renewed  !  Worker  of  ages  !  Thou  who  hast 
designed  the  world  !  O  Amnion,  with  the  holy  transformations  ! 
He  whom  no  man  knoweth,  brilliant  are  his  forms,  his  glory  is  a 
veil  of  light !  Mystery  of  mysteries  !  Mystery  unknown  !  Hail 
to  thee  in  the  bosom  of  Nun  (celestial  abyss)  !  Thou  who  hast 
truly  begotten  the  gods  !  The  breath  of  truth  is  in  thy  mysterious 
sanctuary.  .  .  .  Thou  art  adored  upon  the  waters.  The  fertile 
land  adores  thee  ;  the  entrails  of  the  wild  animals  are  moved  when 
thy  bark  [the  sun]  passeth  by  the  hidden  mountain.  The  spirits 
of  the  east  congratulate  thee  when  thy  light  shineth  on  their  faces." 

All  the  principal  gods  in  the  early  faith  are  but  manifes- 
tations of  this  original  Spirit. 

Besides  being  "  One,"  he  is  a  Spirit,  as  we  see  from 
these  ancient  hymns:  he  is  from  the  beginning;  the 
Original  One;  he  was  when  nothing  was,  the  father  of 
beginnings ;  he  is  eternal ;  he  stands  from  everlasting 
ages,  and  will  be  for  eternity ;  he  is  concealed,  and  his 
form  hath  no  man  known,  his  face  hath  no  man  seen ; 
he  is  hidden  from  gods  and  men,  a  mystery  to  his  crea- 
tures ;  no  mortal  can  name  him  ;  his  name  a  mystery, 
countless  are  his  titles,^  God  is  Truth  ;  he  lives  through 
Truth,  he  is  nourished  on  Truth,  he  is  King  of  Truth, 
and  Truth  he  erects  over  the  world.  He  is  Life,  and  men 
live  through  him  ;  he  is  Father  and  Mother  of  all  crca- 
1  Book  of  the  Dead,  xlii.,  xliv.  4;  Gr.  pap.,  Harris,  iii. 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  1 5 

tures  ;  he  begets,  and  is  not  begotten  ;  he  is  the  creator, 
and  not  created,  the  creator  of  his  own  form  and  builder 
of  his  own  body,  —  the  universe  ;  the  Maker  of  all  that 
was,  and  is,  and  is  not  yet ;  the  original  Franier  (weaver) 
of  the  world,  of  heaven  and  earth  and  the  depths.  He 
hung  the  heavens  and  founded  the  earth;  he  let  water 
(or  moisture)  come  forth,  and  built  the  mountains.  He 
is  Being  itself,  the  enduring  One,  who  increaseth  and  is 
never  lessened,  the  One  who  multiplies  himself  million- 
fold,  the  many-formed.  He  is  Father  of  the  gods  ;  gods 
come  forth  from  the  word  of  his  mouth  ;  the  great  Master, 
the  original  potter  who  moulds  men  and  gods.  He  is  the 
weaver  of  the  universe  on  tlie  loom  of  life.  Heaven  rests 
on  his  head,  and  earth  bears  his  feet ;  heaven  conceals 
his  spirit,  earth  his  form,  and  the  depth  covers  his  mys- 
tery. God  is  merciful  to  his  worshippers ;  he  heareth 
him  who  calleth  upon  him,  and  protecteth  the  weak  from 
the  strong  ;  he  heareth  the  cry  of  him  bound  in  chains  ; 
he  guardeth  the  humble  against  the  haughty,  and  is  Judge 
between  the  powerful  and  the  miserable.  God  acknowl- 
edgeth  him  who  confesseth  him,  rewardeth  him  who 
serveth  him,  and  guardeth  him  who   followeth  him. 

The  revelation  of  light  is  the  most  elevated  expression 
of  this  divine  original  Power.     The  various  gods,  Ra,  Ptah, 
Xnum,^  Thoth,  Osiris,  are   in    inner  being  the  same,  and 
all  manifestations  of  this  original  One. 
1  Brufrsch. 


1 6  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

To  such  a  conception  the  worshipper  might  well  say: 
"  Hail  to  thee,  thou  King  of  the  stars !  Thou  who  art  one 
with  the  heaven's  arch  !  Thee  the  heavens  and  the  lamps 
on  heaven's  arch  do  praise."  ^ 

"  Hail  to  thee,  our  lord  of  truth,  Ammon  !  whose  shrine  is  hid- 
den, Lord  of  gods,  Creator  sailing  in  thy  boat  [the  sun],  at  whose 
command  the  gods  were  made ;  Turn,  the  maker  of  men,  who 
sui)porteth  their  works,  who  giveth  them  life,  who  knoweth  how 
one  differeth  from  another,  who  listeneth  to  the  poor  that  is  in  dis- 
tress, who  art  gentle  of  heart  when  a  man  crieth  unto  thee ;  thou 
who  deliverest  the  fearful  from  the  violent,  who  judgest  the  poor 
and  oppressed  ;  Lord  of  wisdom,  whose  precepts  are  wise,  at  whose 
pleasure  the  Nile  overfloweth  her  banks;  Lord  of  mercy,  most 
loving,  at  whose  coming  men  hve,  opener  of  every  eye,  proceed- 
ing from  the  firmament,  causer  of  pleasure  and  light,  at  whose  good- 
ness the  gods  rejoice,  their  hearts  rejoicing  when  they  see  thee."  ^ 

"  Bringer  of  food,  great  lord  of  all  things  nourishing, 
Lord  of  all  terrors  and  of  all  choicest  joys. 

He  filletli  all  granaries,  he  enricheth  all  the  storehouses, 
He  careth  for  the  estate  of  the  poor. 


He  is  not  beheld  by  the  eye. 

He  hath  neither  ministers  nor  offerings, 

He  is  not  adored  in  sanctuaries. 

He  wipeth  away  tears  from  all  eyes. 

He  careth  for  the  abundance  of  his  blessings."  ^ 

^  Inscription  in  Temple  of  Esne;  Brugsch,  p.  194. 
2  Brugsch,  and  Records  of  the  Past,  ii.  131. 
8  Hymn,  Records  of  the  Past;  Birch,  iv.  108. 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  1 7 

As  we  have  stated,  in  our  condensed  resume  of  the 
Egyptian  belief,  Truth  was  held  to  be  the  essence  and  life 
of  the  divine  being,  as  if  only  the  Eternal  and  the  Just 
could  be  true.  God  is  held  to  be  the  author  of  truth,  and 
more  than  once  it  is  said  in  the  "Book  of  the  Dead" 
that  "  the  society  of  divine  persons  [meaning  the  divine 
manifestations]  subsists  by  truth  every  day."  But  even 
with  this  austere  idea  of  divinity,  the  Egyptian's  heart 
melts  when  he  thinks  of  the  all-pervading  love  of  the  un- 
seen deity.  "  His  love  is  in  the  south,"  he  says  in  im- 
passioned prayer,  "  his  grace  is  in  the  north,  his  beauty 
taketh  possession  of  all  hearts,  his  love  maketh  the  arms 
grow  weak.  His  creatures  are  beautiful  enough  to  para- 
lyze the  hands ;  hearts  break  in  seeing  him ;  by  his  will 
he  hath  produced  the  earth,  gold,  silver,  stone,  and  the 
hke."  1 

The  sun  especially  is  worshipped  as  a  manifestation  of 
this  unknown  Being.  "  Thy  rays,"  says  the  worshipper, 
"  come  from  a  face  not  known ;  thou  marchest  unknown, 
thou  shinest  upon  us  and  we  know  not  thy  form ;  thou 
presentest  thy  face  to  ours  and  we  do  not  know  thy 
body."^ 

That  this  exalted  being  was  equally  exalted  in  purity 
and  spirituality  is  evident  from  a  thousand  inscriptions 
and  documents.     What    is    called    the    oldest    manuscript 

1  A  Hymn  to  Ainmon  Ra,  v.  7;   Records  of  the  Past. 

2  Denkmaler,  vi.  116. 


1 8  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

in  the  world,  "  The  Teachings  of  Prince  Ptahhotep,"  gives 
this  instruction  :  "  Be  good  to  thy  people,  for  that  is  well 
pleasing  to  God.  ...  Be  not  proud  of  riches,  for  the  giver 
of  fulness  is  God.  ...  To  obey,  meaneth  to  love  God;  not 
to  obey,  to  hate  God."  On  the  doors  of  the  Temple  of 
Edfu  it  is  said :  "  God  findeth  his  satisfaction  in  truth ;  he 
is  propitiated  by  it,  and  he  finds  his  pleasure  in  the  most 
perfect  purity.  .  .  .  God  hath  purity  dearer  than  millions 
of  gold  and  silver  offerings." 

These  exalted  conceptions  lasted  even  into  later  times, 
when  a  Cyprian  king,  Nikokreon,  asked  the  oracle  of  Sera- 
pis,  "What  is  he  among  the  gods?"  and  the  reply  was, 
"  Heaven's  space  is  my  head,  my  body  the  sea,  the  earth 
my  feet ;  my  ears  are  in  the  upper  ether,  and  my  eye  the 
wide-shining,  glorious  sunlight ;  "  and  of  this  same  deity, 
Osiris-Serapis,  an  early  papyrus  says:  "O  Lord,  no  god 
is  equal  to  thee ;  heaven  bears  thy  spirit,  earth  thy 
image,  and  the  depth  is  furnished  with  thy  mysteries."  ^ 
Of  Ra,  the  god  of  light,  it  is  said :  "  He  is  the  invisible 
god,  the  mysterious  spirit,  whose  form  no  man  hath  seen, 
whose  being  no  man  hath  understood  ;  the  soul  lightens 
from  his  eycs."^ 

The  inscription  on  the  Temple  of  Dendera  speaks  of 
God  as  having  made  all  beings  and  things:  "All  that 
lives  hath  been   made  by  God  himself.      He  is  creator  of 

^  Papyrus  of  the  Dead,  British  Museum  ;  Brugsch. 
-  Brugsch,  p.  197. 


EGYPTIAX  MOXOTHEISM.  1 9 

all  that  hath  been  formed,  but  he  hath  not  been 
formed."^  God  is  adored  under  his  eternal  name  of 
"  Furnisher  of  souls  for  forms."  ^  He  traverses  eternity, 
is  Master  of  infinity,  Author  of  eternity,  traversing  mill- 
ions of  years  in  his  existence.  He  is  the  Master  of 
eternity  without  limits.^  He  is  omnipresent,  command- 
ing at  once  at  Thebes,  Heliopolis,  and  Memphis.*  He 
is  unnamable,  and  abhorreth  to  have  his  name  pro- 
nounced.^ 

OSIRIS. 

But  the  manifestation  of  the  Infinite  Spirit  dearest  to 
the  hearts  of  all  Egyptians,  and  which  gained  an  extraor- 
dinary power  over  the  whole  people,  was  that  of  Osiris. 
That  most  ancient  of  human  documents,  the  "  Book  of 
the  Dead,"  which  is  a  collection  running  through  many 
centuries,  of  prayers,  invocations,  and  protecting  spells, 
deposited  w^ith  the  mummy  to  guard  the  dead  in  his 
perilous  journey  through  Amenti,  is  almost  one  long 
prayer  or  ascription  of  praise  to  this  gentle  and  blessed 
Being.  "  He  was  appointed  to  reign  over  the  gods  in 
the  presence  of  the  supreme  lord  on  the  day  of  the 
constitution   of   the   world." '^     He   is   Truth   itself;    he   is 

1  Pantheon  Eg.  ;  P.  Pierret,  1881,  p.  16S. 

2  Chabas,  Maximes  d'Ani. 

3  Book  of  the  Dead,  Ixii.  3. 

*  Aegyptische  Denkmaler,  iii.  246. 

5  Book  of  the  Dead,  xHv.  4.  «  Ibid.,  xvii.  70. 


20  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Love.  ''His  heart  is  in  every  woinid."'^  His  especial 
name  is  Ounnofer,  —  the  essence  of  goodness.  He  is 
Lord  of  life,  Lord  of  eternity,  yet  a  human  mother 
hath  begotten  him.  "  Oh,  Osiris,  thy  mother  hath  be- 
gotten thee  in  the  world.  She  hath  called  thee  with  a 
beautiful  name.  Osiris  is  thy  name  in  the  bosom  of 
the  spirit  ;  Goodness  thy  name  in  the  lower  hfeaven ; 
Lord  of  life  thy  name  among  the  living;  ,  .  .  but  thy 
[true]   name  is  God."^ 

From  assimilation  with  him  comes  the  perfection  of 
being.^  He  destroys  the  great  serpent,  Apap,  the  embodi- 
ment of  evil,  "the  devourer  of  souls." ^  There  appears 
through  innumerable  inscriptions  and  records  in  lower 
Egypt  an  extraordinary  feeling  of  affection  and  reverence 
for  this  remarkable  being.  "  Gold  is  nothing  compared  to 
thy  rays,"  says  an  impassioned  worshipper;  "Thy  trans- 
formations are  like  those  of  the  celestial  ocean.  Grant  that 
I  arrive  at  the  country  of  Eternity,  and  the  region  of  the 
justified  ;  that  I  be  reunited  to  the  fair  and  wise  spirits  of 
Kerneter  (Hades),  and  that  I  appear  with  them  to  con- 
template thy  beauties  in  the  morning  of  every  day."  ^     But 

*  Book  of  the  Dead,  xvii.  69.  This  may  be  rendered,  "His  heart 
is  in  every  bloody  sacrifice,"  but  the  idea  is  the  same.  The  sacrifice 
of  Osiris  gives  him  sympathy  with  every  human  sacrifice.  See  De 
Roug^. 

2  Pap.  3148;   Cat.  des  Man.  Egypt. 
^  Book  of  the  Dead,  viii   2. 

*  Ibid.,  xxxix.  9;  xv.  7. 

^  Stdle  of  Boulaq,  Mus.  No.  72 ;  Mariette. 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  21 

though  subsequently  becoming  the  sun-god,  at  that  early 
period  he  was  above  and  behind  the  great  luminary.  He 
created  it.  "  He  saith  to  the  sun,  Come  unto  us  !  "  is  the 
remarkable  expression  of  the  "Book  of  the  Dead"  (v.  21). 
"  When  the  sun  riseth,"  says  another  inscription,  "  it  is  by 
his  will ;  when  it  goeth  down,  he  contemplates  its  splen- 
dors. Hail  to  thee,  whom  thy  name  of  Goodness  maketh 
so  great ;  thou,  the  eldest  son,  the  risen  from  the  dead  ! 
There  is  no  god  can  do  what  he  hath  done.  He  is  lord  of 
life,  and  we  live  by  his  creation  ;  no  man  can  live  without 
his  will."  ^ 

The  received  myth  of  Osiris,  it  should  be  remembered, 
was  gathered  by  a  fair-minded  and  judicious  Greek  author 
several  thousand  years  after  the  probable  date  of  these 
early  inscriptions  and  funereal  records.  And  yet,  if  we 
strip  Plutarch's  narrative  of  its  mythical  and  fanciful  fea- 
tures,  it  presents  a  remarkable  basis  of  probable  fact. 

At  the  birth  of  this  extraordinary  being,  there  were 
the  omens  which  often  precede  in  reality  or  imagination 
the  birth  of  the  earth's  benefactors.  A  voice  was  heard 
announcing  that  the  lord  of  all  things  had  stepped  into 
light  ^  (o)?  aTvavTwv  Kvpio<i  elf  ^w?  irpoeihev).  As  king 
of  Egypt  he  raised  up  his  subjects  from  a  wild  and  mis- 
erable mode  of  life,  taught  them  agriculture  and  the  arts 
of  civilization,  accustomed  them  to  laws,  and  taught  them 

^  Mariette  :   Not.  et  prin.  man.,  p.  304. 
2  Plutarch  :   Isis  and  Osiris. 


22  THE   UNKXOIVN  GOD. 

of  the  Divine  Being  who  had  created  and  who  sustained 
them.  His  presence  was  a  continual  charm  to  men,  and 
his  influence  was  not  exerted  through  violence  but  by 
persuasion,  music,  and  oratory.  His  sweetness  and  good- 
will carried  him  beyond  the  bounds  of  nationality,  which 
then  held  people  so  widely  from  one  another,  and  the 
story  is  related  that  he  went  from  one  country  to  another, 
calming  passions,  softening  savagery,  bringing  the  good 
news  of  human  brotherhood  and  devotion  to  God.  War 
ceased  in  his  presence,  there  was  no  need  of  arms 
i^'EXax'-f^'^o,  iikv  ott\wv  Bei]0evTa),  and  his  sweetness 
and  the  persuasion  of  his  words  and  music  turned 
all  hearts.  These  benevolent  expeditions  weakened  his 
power  at  home,  and  on  returning  to  his  kingdom  he 
was  defeated  by  the  spirit  of  evil  (Typhon)  and  killed, 
though  not  yet  thirty  years  old,  but  rose  again, 
became  the  '•'  first-born  of  mummies,"  ^  and  was  made 
judge  of  quick  and  dead  in  the  divine  Amenti,  or  lower 
world. 

The  classical  historian  saw  even  at  that  late  day  that 
there  were  mysteries  in  this  narrative  which  the  myth  did 
not  explain,  and  which  were  known  only  to  the  Egyp- 
tian priests.  He  notes  that  they  feel  a  certain  horror  at 
the  Greek  and  Roman  interpretation  that  Osiris  is  a  kind 
of  Pluto,  and  only  reigns   over  the  dead   in  the  shadowy 

1  •'  First  of  mummies  "  is  a  not  uncommon  title  of  Osiris  in  Egyp- 
tian inscriptions. 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  23 

region  of  Hades.  This  feeling,  of  which  the  vulgar  do  not 
know  the  true  motive,  throws  many  people  into  trouble, 
and  makes  them  believe  that  Osiris,  that  god  so  lovely,  so 
pure,  lives  really  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth  and  the  abode 
of  tlie  dead.  But  on  the  contrary  he  is  as  far  as  it  is  pos- 
sible to  be  from  that  land;  always  pure  and  without  stain, 
he  has  no  kind  of  communication  with  the  substances 
which  arc  subject  to  corruption  and  death.  Human  souls, 
while  united  to  bodies  and  subject  to  their  passions,  can 
have  union  with  the  god  only  by  feeble  images  which 
philosophy  traces  for  their  intelligence,  and  which  re- 
semble obscure  dreams.  But  when,  disengaged  from  their 
earthly  bondage,  they  have  passed  to  that  abode,  pure, 
holy,  and  invisible,  exposed  to  no  change,  then  this  god 
becomes  their  chief  and  king.  They  are,  as  it  were, 
planted  in  him,  contemplating  without  weariness  that  in- 
effable beauty  which  cannot  be  expressed  or  uttered  by 
any  language  of  men.^ 

Plutarch  holds  Osiris  to  be  the  embodiment  of  love  in 
the  Egyptian  religion,  as  Seti,  or  Typhon,  was  of  the  evil 
principle. 

The  ancient  Egyptian  litanies  dwelt  especially  on  Osiris 
as  having  come  forth  from  darkness  to  light,  as  having 
risen  from  the  sombre  dwelling,  from  the  mysterious 
underworld,  from  the  night.  Others  speak  of  him  as 
one  having  gone  forth  from  heaven,  to  offer  a  special 
1  Plutarch:  Isis  and  Osiris,  civ. 


24  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

sacrifice  for  sin.'  A  symbolic  liturgy  recalled  all  his 
sufferings  and  death;  the  whole  land  was  in  lamentation 
and  mourning;  and  then,  with  the  representation  of  his 
resurrection,  came  songs  and  shouts  of  joy.  "  Adora- 
tion to  Osiris,  who  lives  in  Amenti !  "  says  an  ancient 
inscription,  "to  Ounnofer  [Goodness],  king  of  eternity, 
great  god,  manifested  over  the  celestial  abysses,  and 
king  of  gods,  lord  of  souls ;  he  is  the  great  one  of 
heaven,  king  of  hell,  creator  of  gods  and  men.  When 
we  observe  the  duties  he  commandeth,  we  reign  over 
sin,  know  evil,  know  ourselves."  ^ 

Another  expresses  the  almost  passionate  love  of  the 
people  for  this  great  ideal:  — 

"He  judgeth  the  world,  .  .  .  the  crescent  of  the  sun  is  under 
him,  —  the  winds,  the  waters,  the  plants,  and  all  growing  things. 
...  He  giveth  all  seeds  and  the  abundance  of  the  ground,  he 
bringeth  plentifulness  and  giveth  it  to  all  the  earth.  All  men  are 
in  ecstasy,  hearts  in  sweetness,  bosoms  in  joy,  every  one  is  in 
adoration.  Every  one  glorifies  his  goodness,  mild  is  his  love 
for  us;  his  tenderness  environs  our  hearts,  great  is  his  love  in 
all  bosoms.  .  .  .  His  foe  falleth  under  his  fury,  and  the  evil 
doer  at  the  sound  of  his  voice.  .  .  .  Sanctifying,  beneficent  is  his 
name  ;  .  .  .  respect  immutable  for  his  law.  .  .  .  Both  worlds 
are  at  rest ;  evil  flies,  and  earth  becomes  fruitful  and  peaceful 
under  its  lord."  ^ 

^  I   am  he  who  killed  for  thee  the  sacrifice  of  the  ram  of  sins  in 
the  land  of  light  (Book  of  the   Dead,  Uhlemann,  p.  158). 
2  Mariette  :  Not.  et  prin.  man.,  p.  3<S6. 
8  Records  of   Past,    Birch,  ii.  131,  408. 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  2$ 

"  Homage  to  Thee,  Ounnofer !  Goodness  itself," 
says  an  ancient  prayer,  "  Lord  of  Time,  who  conductest 
Eternity,  God  benevolent  from  heart,  greatest  of  forms, 
most  holy  of  laws;  he  is  beloved  by  the  lower  heaven; 
he  is  the  One,  fair  of  face,  the  great  of  crown,  who 
rulcst   the   elements  which   he   hath    created. 

"  Hail  to  thee,  Osiris,  elder  son  of  Father  Ra,  Father 
of  Fathers,  he  who  sittest  near  Ra,  the  King  of  immense 
times  and  the  Master  of  Eternity,  .  .  .  No  man  knoweth    <^ 
his    name :    innumerable    his    names    in    all    towns    and 
provinces."  ^ 

"Praise  to  thy  countenance!"  says  the  "Book  of  the 
Dead,"  "Creator  of  the  fulness  of  the  Universe,  Osiris, 
Lord  of  all  that  has  breath,  thou  who  hast  fastened  the 
universe  together.  Grant  that  I  praise  the  Builder,  the 
Originator  of  the  fulness  of  the  universe,  who  once 
called  into  being  all  things  that  are  on  earth  or  beyond ; 
he  hath  contrived  them  for  me." 

■  "  I  praise  thee,  the  Father,  the  well-doer,  the  Just  One. 
I  serve  the  Lord  whom  all  lands  of  the  world  honor, 
Osiris,  in  the  Land  of  Light.  I  sing  of  the  works  of  the 
Lord,  which  refresh  my  soul  so  long  as  I  wander  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord.  .  .  .  Bring  fear  on  those  who  hate 
thee,  cause  thine  enemies  to  blush,  Lord  and  Prince  of 

1  Pap.  3292,  Louvre  MSS.  Deve'ria:  Cat.  d.  man.  Eg.  Marietta  : 
Not  d.  prin.  man,  p.  304.  Handbuch  d.  ges.  Aeg.  Alterth.;  Dr.  M. 
Uhlemann,  1858,  iv.  138. 


26  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

the  very  brilliant  star  -  house  who  hast  planned  thy 
planting.  Thou  who  seest  the  murder  of  the  righteous 
...  let  me  come  to  thee !  Unite  me  with  thee,  that 
I  see  thy  sunlight,  King  of  the  Universe !  Praise  to 
Thy  countenance,  streaming  Light  in  the  firmament,  the 
glorious  Lord  of  thy  heavenly  bark  [the  sun],  the  cre- 
ator and  ruler  who  distributes  righteousness  to  all  men 
that  delight  themselves  in  seeing  thee  wandering  in  thy 
shining  web."  ^ 

"  Praise  to  thy  countenance,  the  Powerful,  the  Elevated 
One,  thou  who  causest  thy  enemies  to  blush,  thou  who 
overthrowest  their  dwellings.  Thou  destroyest  the  schools 
of  the  liar,  thou  hatest  the  dwellings  of  the  tyrants."  ^ 

"  Praise  to  thee,  Lord  of  the  thunder  (trumpet), 
maker  (weaver)  of  the  divine  dwelling.  Lord  of  heaven's 
clouds  and  heaven's  darkness.  Let  me  approach  thee, 
my  Prince ;  cleanse  my  hands  of  sin.  Thou  unitest  thy- 
self to  me.  Thou  enlightenest  those  who  are  united  with 
thee."  3 

The  dream  of  union  with  Osiris  was  the  dying  hope  of 
all  Egyptians,  Almost  every  grave-inscription  speaks  of 
the  deceased  as  having  "  passed  over  to  union  with  Osiris, 
the  high  and  holy."  Though  the  sun-god,  he  is  not  iden- 
tified with  the  sun.  "He  hath  brought  on  the  years  of 
the  sun-god :   he  lighteneth  the  day.     He  made  the  glory 

^  Rook  of  the  Dead,  cxv.  3. 

2  Ibid.,  cxv.  29-33.  3  i5i(j.^  c,  21. 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  27 

of  the  sun."  "  I  have  kindled  the  hght,"  it  is  said  of 
Osiris,  in  the  "  Book  of  the  Dead,"  "  I  have  woven  the 
star-strewn  path." 

TJie  Day  of  Account  of  Words.  —  The  symboHsm  of  the 
last  great  judgment  for  men,  the  "day  of  accounts  of 
words,"  as  the  ancient  inscriptions  call  it,  is  well  known 
on  the  Egyptian  monuments.  The  dead,  the  accused,  is 
brought  before  the  great  Judge  of  quick  and  dead,  Osiris, 
who  is  clad  in  mummy  clothes  to  indicate  his  having 
risen  from  the  grave.  His  face  is  sweet  and  grave,  and 
he  bears  the  shepherd's  crook  and  the  scourge,  to  ex- 
press his  twofold  character.  The  heart  of  the  deceased 
is  weighed  against  an  image  of  truth  by  Anubis,  "  the 
director  of  the  balance,"  who  declares  the  balance  satis- 
fied by  the  deceased.  Thoth  (or  Logos')  registers  the 
sentence,  and  the  virtuous  dead  is  acquitted,  and  united 
to  his  Lord.  So  intimate  is  this  union  that  he  is  called 
by  the  name  of  the  merciful  judge ;  ^  he  is  Osiris  "  N.," 
or  whatever  was  his  name  in  life,  and  is  henceforth  one 
with  the  Lord  of  Eternity. 

The  justified  one  says  to  the  forty-two  accusers  or  as- 
sessors, representing  before  the  Judge  forty-two  different 
sins :  — 

"  Oh  gods,  dwellers  of  the  divine  underworld,  hear  the  voice  of 
Osiris  N.  !     He  has  arrived  near  you.     There  is  no  fault  found  in 

1  "He  is  called  by  my  name."  "  For  me  to  live  is  Christ."  "I 
am  Christ's." 


22>  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

him,  no  sin  against  him,  no  witness  against  him.  He  lives  in 
truth,  nourishes  himself  on  truth.  The  heart  of  the  gods  is  satis- 
fied with  what  he  has  done ;  he  has  given  bread  to  the  hungry, 
water  to  the  thirsty,  clothing  to  the  naked.  .  .  .  There  is  no  wit- 
ness against  him  before  any  god."  ^ 

Then  follows  the  well-known  negative  defence:  — 

"  I  have  guarded  myself  from  holding  godless  speeches.  I  have 
committed  no  revenge  in  act  or  in  heart ;  no  excesses  in  love ;  I 
have  injured  no  one  with  lies ;  have  driven  away  no  beggars,  com- 
mitted no  treacheries,  caused  no  tears.  I  have  not  taken  another's 
property,  nor  committed  murder,  nor  ruined  another,  nor  destroyed 
the  laws  of  righteousness.  I  have  not  aroused  contests,  nor  ne- 
glected the  creator  of  my  soul.  I  have  done  no  robbery.  I  have 
not  disturbed  the  joy  of  others.  I  have  not  passed  by  the  op- 
pressed, sinning  against  my  creator,  or  the  Lord,  or  the  heavenly 
powers."  - 

"  I  am  pure,  pure  !  ...  He  hath  reconciled  God  by  his  love 
[charity].  ...  He  is  with  the  perfect  spirit ;  he  is  lord  of 
eternity."  ^ 

To  his  Judge  and  Saviour  his  prayer  is,  "  Allow  to  the 
dead  a  quiet  dwelling-place,  Osiris,  thou  heavenly  Lord ! 
Elevated  One,  open  the  doors  of  glory  for  the  heart  of 
thy  glorified  servant  that  he  come  to  thee.  Lord  and 
Judge  of  worlds,  Osiris,  ruler  of  the  life  of  men."* 

"  Reverenced  by  me,  beloved  one,  thou  openest  the 
doors  of  the  firmament.     Thou  madcst  the  valleys  of  the 

1  Book  of  the  Dead.  2  lljid.,  cxxv.  14-34. 

«  Ibid.,  c.  xiii.  ■*  Ibid. 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  29 

earth,  the  Holy  One  who  sendeth  flames  of  lightning 
on  the  earth,  the  twofold  Judge  of  men  who  delightest 
in  men  bringing  burnt  offering." 

The  "  day  of  the  account  of  words  "  is,  above  all,  a  day 
of  moral  reckoning  and  purifying.  "  The  destruction  of 
the  faults  of  the  dead  is  made  by  the  hands  of  the 
master  of  truth,"  says  the  ritual,  "  when  he  has  wiped 
away  the  stain  in  him.  Evil  unites  itself  to  divinity  in 
order  that  truth  should  expel  this  bad  element.  The 
god  who  chasteneth  becomes  the  god  who  strengthens 
superabundantly."  ^ 

To  his  Judges  the  deceased  says,  "O  ye  who  bring 
justice  to  the  universal  Lord,  judges  of  my  punishment 
and  my  triumph,  ye  who  reconcile  with  the  gods  by  the 
fire  of  your  mouths,  ye  who  receive  the  offerings  to  the 
gods,  and  gifts  destined  for  the  manes,  ye  who  live  on 
justice,  who  nourish  yourselves  on  a  truth  without  error, 
and  who  abhor  iniquities,  wash  away  all  my  stains,  do 
away  with  all  my  sins  !  Ye  who  bear  no  stain,  grant  me 
...  to  traverse  the  mysterious  gates  of  Amenti."^ 

Resurrection.  —  The  Egyptians  above  all  things  be- 
lieved in  the  resurrection  of  the  body.  It  was  for  this 
that  loving  hands  laid  so  many  million  human  bodies, 
preserved  by  careful  art  from  decay,  in  the  rock-tombs 
on  the  Nile,   and  in  thousands   of  unknown   graves.     It 

^  Book  of  the  Dead,  cxiv. 

2  Ibid.  cxxv.  1-3.     De  Rouge:  Rev.  Arch.,  i860,  p.  364. 


30  THE   UXKNOIVN  GOD. 

was  for  this  that  "  the  kings  and  counsellors  of  the  earth 
built  solitary  piles  for  themselves"  (Job  iii.  14),  made 
difficult  of  access,  and  trusted  thus  to  bid  defiance  to 
time  and  change,  and  to  permit  the  beloved  ones  to 
carry  their  vital  organs  into  the  shadowy  land  of 
Amenti. 

But  despite  this  literal  belief,  it  was  not  in  the  Egyptian 
faith  the  same  corporeal  frame  as  in  life  which  the  de- 
parted would  take  with  him  into  the  divine  lower  world. 
The  divine  spirit  or  word  (Thoth)  breathed  new  life  and 
vigor  into  the  body  of  the  dead.  He  clothed  it  in  the 
garment  of  truth,  —  in  external  transformation.  The  body 
is  purified  and  restored  by  the  gods;  it  is  no  longer  the 
old  body,  nor  is  it  a  new  soul.  The  justified  soul  is  re- 
stored to  a  purified  body.  This  is  clearly  shown  in  the 
ancient  book,  "  The  Breaths  of  Life."  ^  The  dead  has 
passed  through  the  same  fate  as  Osiris,  and  now  rises 
like  him.  "  Thy  word  is  truth,  O  Osiris,  against  thy 
enemies.  .  .  .  The  word  of  Osiris  N.  is  truth  before  the 
great  gods."^ 

"  I  place  myself  before  thee.  Lord  of  eternity.  I 
have  no  sin,  I  have  no  accuser  .  .  .  what  I  have 
done,  gods  rejoice  at.  Hail  to  the  dwellers  of  Amenti  I 
Grant  me  a  passage  on   the  road  of  darkness,  that  I  re- 

1  Trans,  by  De  Horrack,  Record  of  Past,  iv.  119.  See  for  amu- 
lets to  preserve  dead,  Rev.  Arch.,  1862,  p.  130. 

2  Book  of  the  Dead  ;  Set.  Typhon,  E.  Meyer,  1875,  p.  14. 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  3 1 

join  thy  servants,  dwellers  of  the  underworld."  When 
he  is  acquitted,  he  can  say  with  joy,  "  I  do  not  pene- 
trate to  the  cell  of  the  murderer  in  the  lower 
world;  they  do  not  unto  me  as  to  those  whom  the 
gods  detest."  ^  "  My  soul  is  not  carried  to  the  hall 
of  immolation;  it  is  not  destroyed.  ...  It  is  saved 
from  the  devourer  of  souls  [Apap]  in  the  lower 
world."  ^ 

The  souls  of  the  wicked  are  tortured  or  become  im- 
movable for  millions  of  years.  They  are  in  gulfs  of  fire 
where  are  seen  their  dissolving  heads ;  lion-headed  god- 
desses are  executioners  who  "  live  on  the  cries  of  the 
impious "  and  feed  on  the  groans  of  the  souls  of  the 
wicked,  who  stretch  unavailing  hands  from  the  depths 
of  the  gulfs.  The  saddest  of  all  sentences  to  those  under 
the  "second  death"  is,  "Ye  shall  not  see  those  upon 
earth  any  more,  never !  " 

The  good  spirit  will  not  perish.  It  rejoins  his  body. 
"  I  arrive ;  having  made  my  body  embalmed,  my  flesh  is 
not  dissolved.  I  am  complete  as  my  Father  Osiris."^ 
"  The  earth  hath  not  gnawed  me ;  the  sun  hath  not  eaten 
me."* 

The  dead  arises :  "  I  raise  again  my  heart  after  weak- 
ness ;   I  fly  to  heaven ;   I  descend  on  earth  every  day.     I 

^  Book  of  the  Dead. 

2  Pierret,  p.  63 ;  Book  of  the  Dead. 

s  Book  of  the  Dead.  *  Ibid. 


32  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

raise    myself  and    begin  among  the  gods."  ^     He^    is    re- 
newed and  begins  his  hfe  for  milHons  of  years. 

The  soul  again  addresses  the  mighty  Judge :  "  I  am 
Osiris  N.  ...  Hail  to  thee,  great  God,  Lord  of  justice  !  I 
come  near  thee  to  see  thy  beauties,  I  know  the  name  of 
the  great  God,  and  of  those  with  thee  in  the  hall  of  the 
double  justice,  ...  in  the  day  of  account  of  words."  ^ 
And  to  the  spirit  charged  with  the  office  of  punishment 
he  says:  "Receive  in  peace  this  Osiris  N.,  justified! 
Open  to  him  thy  gates !  .  .  .  Let  me  not  be  repulsed  by 
thy  guards !  Let  me  see  God  in  his  beauties !  Let  me 
serve  him  in  the  place  where  he  is  !  "  "*  Then  to  Osiris : 
"  I  arrive  near  thee,  I  am  with  thee  to  see  thy  face 
every  day.^  Let  me  not  be  imprisoned,  let  me  not  be 
repulsed ;  let  my  limbs  renew  themselves  to  contemplate 
thy  glory,  as    one  of  thy  chosen    ones,  for  I  am  one  of 

1  Book  of  the  Dead. 

2  The  persons  are  constantly  confused  in  the  Egyptian  hiero- 
glyphics. 

2  Pap.  N.  Deveria,  pi.  vii. 

^  Cat.  d.  man.  Eg.,  39-92. 

^  Hear  Job,  who  has  evidently  known  something  of  the  early  Egyp- 
tian faith:  "  For  I  know  that  my  Goel  (Vindicator)  liveth,  and  that  he 
shall  stand  up  at  the  last  upon  the  earth  ;  and  after  my  skin  has 
been  destroyed,  this  shall  be,  —  even  from  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God  ; 
whom  I  shall  see  for  myself,  and  my  eyes  shall  behold  and  not  an- 
other" (Job  xix.  25-27). 

Angessi  has  brought  out  the  correspondence  in  a  most  interesting 
manner  between  Job's  thoughts  and  expression  and  the  ancient 
Egyptian  writings,  in  his  charming  work,  "Job  et  L'figypte." 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  33 

those  consecrated  to  thee  on  the  earth.  I  reach  the 
land  of  Eternity;  I  rejoin  the  eternal  country,  and  it 
is  thou  who  hast  ordained  this  for  me  who  am  (hence- 
forth) in  Ra  and  every  god."  ^ 

These  ancient  liturgies  —  the  "  Book  of  the  Dead"  — 
from  which  we  have  quoted  so  much  call  the  day  of 
death  the  "day  of  birth." ^  The  soul  becomes  master  of 
fear  and  terror  in  the  heart  of  men,  of  gods,  spirits,  and 
the  dead.  It  liveth  for  eternity.  It  doth  not  suffer  "  the 
second  death  "  in  Hades.  No  ill  is  done  it  in  the  day  of 
account  of  words.^  The  dead  seeth  with  his  eyes,  hear- 
eth  with  his  ears.  He  is  truth.^  "  Living ;  living  is  he 
who  dwelleth  in  darkness ;  all  his  grandeurs  live ;  living  is 
Osiris  N.,  who  dwelleth  among  the  gods."  ^  The  dead 
will  suffer  no  harm.  He  will  be  in  the  state  of  the  origi- 
nal God.  No  bad  thing  will  destroy  him ;  he  will  not 
see  the  second  death;  he  will  eat  and  drink  every  day 
with  Osiris ;  he  will  be  living ;  he  will  be  like  god.^  The 
mouth  of  no  worm  shall  devour  him,^ 

A  SpiriUial  Body.  —  A  new  growth  of  life  begins  in 
his   body,  he   is  for  eternity,  and  his  flesh  has  vigor  in 

1  Book  of  the  Dead,  xv.  7. 

2  Seneca  perhaps  borrows  his  expression,  "dies  natalis  eterni," 
from  Egyptian  inscriptions. 

8  Book  of  the  Dead,  cxxx.  28,  29.  ^  Ibid.,  cxxxiii.  S. 

*  Louvre ;  Pap.  No.  3071,  Devdria. 
^  Book  of  the  Dead,  cxxxv.  13,  14. 
'  Ibid.,  clxiv.  16. 

3 


34  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

the  divine  lower  world  through  Thoth,  who  has  done 
this  for  Osiris.^  "  My  limbs  are  renewed  every  day  to 
contemplate  thy  splendor." ^  "Thy  rays,  O  Osiris,  in 
my  face,  pure  gold  is  eclipsed.  Incomprehensible  is  thy 
glory.  Give  me  a  new  heart  in  place  of  my  heart,  .  .  . 
give  me  my  mouth  to  speak,  my  legs  to  walk,"^  etc. 
"The  dead  is  in  peace,  in  peace!'"* 

At  the  close  of  the  "  Book  of  the  Dead  "  it  is  said  of 
him :  "  He  shall  be  deified  among  the  gods.  ...  He  shall 
not  be  rejected.  His  flesh  and  bones  shall  be  healthy  as 
one  who  is  not  dead.  He  shall  plunge  in  the  stream 
of  the  heavenly  river.  ...  It  shall  be  granted  to  him 
to  shine  like  a  star  forever  in  heaven.  .  .  .  "  ^ 

"  His  body  is  complete "  '^  "  He  seeth  God  with  his 
flesh."  '     "  I  have  come  to  see  the  gods." 

"  I  have  come  to  thee,  O  Lord  !  I  present  myself  to 
contemplate  thy  glory.  I  know  thee,  I  know  thy  name."^ 
"  The  spirit  of  the  dead  is  living  for  eternity.  He  does 
not  pass  through  the  second  death."®  Chapter  Ixxxix. 
of  this  Ritual  treats  of  uniting  the  soul  to  its  mummy, 
that  its  body  be  not  injured,  or  destroyed  forever.^*^ 

1  Book  of  the  Dead,  ci.  8.  '^  Ibid.,  xv.  6i. 

8  Ibid.,  XV.  8,  9.  ■*  Ibid.,  cxx.  27.  ^  Hjjd.^  dxv. 

«  Book  of  the  Dead,  clxv.  6. 

■^  Compare  Job  xix.  25-27 :  "  Whom  I  shall  see  for  myself,  and  my 
eyes  shall  behold,  and  not  another." 

8  Book  of  the  Dead,  cxxv.  i.  9  Ibid.,  cxxx.  27. 

"  Ibid.,  Ixxxix.  27. 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  35 

Amenti  {Hades).  —  As  the  dead  traverses  Amenti,  the 
Ritual  says :  "  Osiris  N.  hath  come ;  he  seeth  his  father 
Osiris.  It  is  he  who  loveth  Osiris  ;  he  hath  made  the 
journey."  ^  "  I  arrive  at  the  shore  of  eternity.  I  rejoin 
the  land  of  eternity."  ^  "  Protect  Osiris  N.  in  the  region 
of  the  divine  lower  world ;  grant  that  he  conquer  evil ; 
place  thyself  as  protector  between  him  and  his  sins ; 
place  him  among  the  august ;  let  him  join  himself  to 
the  spirits  of  the  divine  lower  w^orld ;  let  him  rove  in 
the  fields  of  heaven ;  in  fine,  let  him  journey  with 
gladness  of  heart."^  "Hail  to  ye,  Masters  of  the  Truth, 
exempt  from  evil,  who  art  living  for  eternity  and  per- 
petuity of  ages !  Make  me  to  penetrate  into  this  heavenly 
country." 

In  his  passage  through  Amenti  the  dead  meets  Apap, 
the  great  serpent,  "  the  devourer  of  souls,"  the  spirit  of 
evil,  who  attacks  him  as  he  had  attacked  his  Lord,  Osiris.'* 
As  he  reaches  the  heavenly  land,  the  sore-driven  spirit 
hears  the  welcome,  "  Appear  thou  in  heaven  ;  be  not  thy 
appearance  hindered.  Thou  diest  not;  thou  renewest  hfe; 
thou  wilt  not  be  destroyed  ;  thou  makest  thyself  young. 
Nothing  evil  is  in  thee ;  thou  renewest  thyself.  No  sm 
is  in  thy  nature.  .  .  .  Eternity  be  to  thy  name.  Thou 
must  be  in  the  mouth  of  those  on  earth  indestructible, 
like  the  sun."  ^ 

1  Book  of  the  Dead,  ix.  ^  ibid.,  xv.  ^  Ibid.,  xiv. 

4  Cat.  MSS.  Eg.,  p.  177.  5  Miramar,  p.  14. 


36  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

The  Entrance  into  Heaven.  —  A  prayer  to  the  sun-god: 
"  I  am  united  with  the  radiant,  noble,  and  wise  spirits  of 
the  underworld.  I  step  with  them  to  behold  thy  glories 
at  thy  rising  in  the  early  morn,  and  in  the  evening  by 
thy  setting,  when  thy  mother  embraces  thee  with  her 
arms.  When  thou  turnest  thy  face  to  the  west  country,^ 
I  praise  thee  with  raised  hands  at  thy  union  w^th  the 
Land  of  Life."  ^  "I  have  come  into  the  world  of  radiant 
spirits,  and  I  have  appeared  in  the  door  of  this  lordly 
land.  What  is  it,  this  world  of  radiant  spirits,  of  gods 
near  the  sun-dwelling?  The  door  of  the  lordly  land  is 
the  door-opening  [of  the  sun]."^  "Open  stands  the 
hidden  kingdom  of  the  dwellers  of  the  lower  world,  and 
there  unveil  themselves  those  who  belong  to  the  en- 
lightened. Open  stands  the  hidden  kingdom  of  the  air- 
spaces, and  I  step  out  to  my  seat  in  the  ship  [the  sun] 
of  the  God  of  Light."  * 

"Osiris  N.  wanders  on  his  feet,  the  justified,  the  holy  ;  he 
finds  out  him  who  hateth  righteousness,  and  in  like  man- 
ner the  hidden  dwellings  of  the  pious,  —  him  who  beareth 
manifold  cares  for  the  good  of  many  men,  who  arouseth 
other  men  to  worship.  He  discovereth  him  who  honors 
the  holy  on  earth,  who  loves  the  care  of  thy  creatures." 

The  dead,  as  he  feels  himself  purified,  and  freed  from 
inherited   evil,   makes  the  passionate   exclamation :    "  No 

1  Hades,  the  underworld  of  life.  2  ^ooV  of  the  Dead,  xv.  15. 

8  Ibid.,  xvii.  20.  4  15;^^  ixiij. 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  37 

more  stain  from  my  mother!  I  am  delivered  [from  sin]."' 
"  All  the  stains  which  I  keep  are  what  I  have  done  against 
the  Masters  of  Eternity  since  I  went  forth  from  my 
mother's  womb."  ^ 

The  sinners,  after  the  great  judgment,  are  some  of  them 
sentenced  to  punishment,  as  we  have  before  described,  and 
some  are  compelled  to  enter  the  bodies  of  animals.  But 
some  of  them  are  even  then  forgiven  by  the  merciful 
Judge.  "  He,  the  powerful,  pities  the  begging  sinners 
who  call  upon  the  gods.  He  raises  the  slaves  of  his  race, 
the  begging  sinners,  to  himself" 

Heaven. — The  pictures  of  heaven  to  the  Egyptian  are 
such  as  would  be  most  grateful  to  a  dweller  in  that  hot 
climate,  —  deep  shades  of  over-branching  sycamores,  cool 
waters,  the  fresh  north  wind,  and  fruitful  fields,  forever 
watered,  and  rich  in  never-ceasing  harvests.  The  departed 
still  busy  themselves  in  the  pursuits  of  a  happy,  peaceful 
agriculture,  where  the  harvest  is  a  hundred-fold.  There 
is  a  tree  of  immortal  life  in  this  blessed  garden,  and  a 
heavenly  river. 

But  the  happiness  of  eternity,  as  we  have  abundantly 
shown,  is  for  the  Egyptians  in  spiritual  life  and  in  union 
with  their  Lord. 

One  of  the  more  material  though  imaginative  glories 
of  the  future  is  in  embarking  with  the  sun-god  in  his 
radiant  bark,  and  thus  each  day  surveying  the  universe. 

1  Book  of  the  Dead,  Ixiv.  7.  2  ibid.^  xvii.  37. 


38  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

But  the  Egyptian's  conception  of  religion  had  reached 
the  highest  point :  it  regarded  sympathy  and  morality  as 
the  flower  and  fruit  of  faith  in  invisible  beings.  The 
spirits  or  gods  unseen,  the  One  God  over  all,  were  in 
harmony  with  the  highest  moral  ideas  of  the  race.  God 
was  the  Law  of  righteousness,  embodied  in  spiritual  form. 
A  burial  inscription  on  the  stele  of  Beka^  says:  "I  my- 
self was  just  and  true,  having  put  God  in  my  heart,  and 
having  been  quick  to  discern  his  will.  I  reach  the  city 
of  those  who  dwell  in  eternity.  I  have  done  good  upon 
the  earth.  I  have  harbored  no  prejudice.  I  have  not 
been  wicked.  I  have  not  countenanced  any  offence  or 
iniquity.  I  have  taken  pleasure  in  speaking  the  truth. 
.  .  .  My  sure  defence  shall  be  to  speak  truth  in  the  day 
when  I  reach  the  divine  judges,  the  skilful  interpreters, 
the  discerners  of  sins.  Pure  is  my  soul,  I  have  spent 
my  lifetime  in  the  life  of  Truth." 

Such  was  the  picture,  drawn  in  a  few  strokes  of  light 
over  a  dark  background,  which  the  ancient  Egyptian 
drew  in  his  imagination  of  the  shadowy  Unseen  that  sur- 
rounded him  as  it  surrounds  us.  He  peered  into  the  dark- 
ness which  infolded  the  unseen  life  then  even  as  now;  he 
bade  farewell  to  his  beloved  as  he  laid  their  bodies  in  the 
rocky  tombs  with  the  same  agony,  and  anxiously  ques- 
tioned them,  even  as  we  do  now,  and  like  us  he  received 
1  Trans.  Chabas. 


EGYPTIAN  MONOTHEISM.  39 

no  sensible  whisper  from  the  unseen.  He  gazed  at  the 
majestic  and  orderly  course  of  Nature  sixty  centuries 
ago  as  we  still  gaze,  and  prayed  as  we  pray  for  light 
from  the  source  of  all  this. 

More  than  the  members  of  any  modern  race,  the  Eg}'p- 
tian  lived  in  the  life  invisible.  His  grandest  dwellings 
were  for  the  dead.  And  we  now  know  that  his  deep 
religious  hunger  and  thirst  were  rewarded.  The  divine 
inspiration  was  admitted  to  the  souls  of  many  among  that 
ancient  people.  It  gained,  in  part  at  least,  the  grandest 
conception  known  to  man  of  the  Unknown  God.  It  sought 
to  serve  him  by  lives  of  mercy,  justice,  and  truth.  It  be- 
lieved in  a  "  day  of  the  account  of  words."  It  trusted  in 
a  merciful  Being,  even  though  a  shadowy  person,  a  mani- 
festation of  God's  goodness,  who  had  lived  and  died  for 
the  good  of  men.  As  this  "  Son  of  God,"  as  he  is  called, 
rose  again  and  became  "  the  first-born  of  the  dead,"  so 
would  the  dead  arise  and  meet  him  as  Judge.  To  be  like 
him,  and  to  be  united  to  that  sweet  and  perfect  being, 
was  to  be  the  joy  of  eternity. 

This  faith,  too,  was  in  harmony  with  man's  highest 
ideals.  The  purest  morality  and  highest  human  sym- 
pathy were  only  the  natural  fruits  of  his  relation  to  "  the 
concealed  "  God  and  to  Osiris. 

Is  not  this  ancient  faith,  then,  a  faint  reflection  of  the 
light  in  a  great  darkness,  shining  to  all  men  ages  ago  in 
the  youth  of  mankind  from  the  eternal  Light,  even  as  now. 


40  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

but  not  received  of  men,  for  men  knew  it  not  ?  Is  it 
not  a  precursor  of  the  brighter  Light  forty  centuries 
later  in  GaHlee  ? 

This  great  h"ght  which  gilds  the  morning  dawn  of  hu- 
man history,  and  was  so  rich  a  blessing  to  so  many 
millions  of  men,  has  completely  faded  away.  We  can 
merely  trace  its  faint  reflections  in  the  papyri  which  the 
dead  bore  with  them  into  the  tomb,  and  on  the  inscrip- 
tions —  unread  for  centuries  —  upon  broken  shafts  and 
crumbling  pyramids. 

Its  truth  alone  lives  in  higher  forms,  and,  in  the  words 
of  the  "  Book  of  the  Dead,"  "  is  indestructible  as  the  sun." 

Note.  —  The  "Book  of  the  Dead,"  or,  more  literally,  the  "Book 
of  the  Soul's  Transformation,"  has  been  frequently  quoted  in  these 
pages.  Different  translations  have  been  used,  the  preference  being 
given  to  those  of  Pierret  and  De  Rouge;  but  it  is  clear  that  consider- 
able uncertainty  attaches  to  any  one  exact  rendering.  There  are  vary- 
ing texts,  and,  as  might  be  expected  in  a  writing  to  be  placed  in  unseen 
tombs  and  to  be  read  only  by  invisible  spirits,  many  mistakes  and 
omissions,  and  much  carelessness  by  the  original  scribes. 

Then  the  highly  symbolic  language  is  easily  mistranslated.  Still, 
enough  comes  forth  to  prove  the  elevated  monotheism  of  the  early 
Egyptians,  and  their  faith  in  resurrection  and  a  moral  judgment.  De 
Rougd  states  that  the  British  Museum  possesses  a  copy  of  this  Ritual 
written  before  Moses,  in  the  time  of  Seti  I.,  father  of  Ramses  II.  The 
monuments  of  the  First  Empire  reveal  several  chapters  of  these  writ- 
ings (Rev.  Arch.,  p.  357,     i860). 

Most  of  the  prominent  Egyptologists  affirm  the  monotheistic  belief 
of  the  ancient  Egyptians.  See  the  writings  of  De  Rougd,  Brugsch, 
Chabas,  Maspero,  Pierret,  Renouf,  Uhlemann,  and  others. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  JEWS   AND   EGYPTIANS. 
JAHVEH. 

"I   AM  THAT  I   AM." 

/^NE  of  the  singular  facts  of  history  is  that  a  people 
Hke  the  Jews  should  have  lived  for  so  many  years 
under  the  rule  of  a  nation  like  the  Egyptians,  and 
have  carried  away  after  their  emancipation  so  few  mental 
and  religious  influences.  The  Egyptians  were  the  pre- 
eminently cultivated  and  religious  race  of  antiquity.  Their 
achievements  in  the  arts  and  sciences  far  surpassed 
those  of  any  people  of  early  times,  and  are  the  admi- 
ration of  all  succeeding  ages.  They  were  luxurious, 
refined,  and  overflowing  with  riches.  Their  society  was 
artificial  and  elaborate  in  the  extreme.  They  showed, 
no  doubt,  the  conservatism  and  pride  of  opinion  and 
habit  belonging  to  a  nation  and  civilization  of  im- 
memorial antiquity.  All  their  characteristics  were  such 
as  would  stamp  themselves  deeply  on  a  race  of  inferior 
culture  and  less  ancient  existence  among  nations.  Then 
they  were  peculiarly  filled,  as  we  have  seen,  with  the 
convictions  of  a  future  life  for  the  soul,  of  a  coming 
judgment,  and  a  resurrection  of  the  body.     Many  classic 


42  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

writers  speak  of  them  as  the  earliest  people  who  believed 
in  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  Their  daily  life  was 
crowded  with  emblems  and  reminders  of  their  religious 
faith,  such  as  scarcely  any  race,  ancient  or  modern,  has 
presented.  Their  grandest  structures  were  tombs  to  pre- 
serve the  bodies  of  their  kings  from  the  gnawing  tooth  of 
time,  or  the  wanton  destruction  of  man,  until  the  great 
"  day  of  the  account  of  words."  The  very  soil  has  be- 
come filled  with  the  embalmed  remains  of  those  whom 
their  friends  hoped  thus  to  prepare  for  the  great  journey 
through  the  shadowy  Amenti.  Never,  certainly,  was  a 
people  so  deeply  inspired  with  the  belief  in  a  future  life. 

Among  this  people,  too,  were  profound  thinkers  and 
philosophers,  to  whom  had  been  revealed  the  grandest 
truths  and  inspirations  of  religion.  These  beliefs,  indeed, 
were  concealed  from  the  masses,  and  held  as  esoteric  or 
inside  faiths  of  the  learned.  But  they  existed,  as  abun- 
dant proofs  show,  and  even  influenced  the  classic  ages. 
This  race,  so  powerful  and  so  religious,  held  under  their 
subjection  for  a  considerable  period  —  perhaps  several 
centuries  —  a  race  of  semi-barbarous  Semitic  herdsmen 
from  the  plains  of  Asia.  The  relation  was  perhaps 
somewhat  like  that  of  the  African  slaves  in  this  country 
to  the  Anglo-Americans  during  a  century. 

The  foreign  Semitic  laborers  worked  under  their 
Hamite  task-masters,  and  brought  up  their  offspring  amid 
this  splendid  civilization,  and  then  revolted  and  fled  from 


THE  JEWS  AND  EGYPTIANS.  43 

the  country  to  the  wilds  of  the  mountainous  region  east 
of  Egypt.  Their  leader  and  emancipator,  one  of  the 
grandest  figures  on  the  stage  of  history,  had  been  edu- 
cated by  the  Egyptian  priestly  caste,  and  was  familiar 
with  their  most  sacred  and  concealed  beliefs.  Yet  if 
one  studies  carefully  the  succeeding  history  of  this 
roving  people,  one  finds  marvellously  few  evidences  of 
any  mental  influence  from  their  masters.  The  Jewish 
people  in  their  early  history  seem  singularly  little  in- 
spired with  the  belief  in  a  future  life  or  a  coming  judg- 
ment. It  is  as  if  the  African  slaves  and  their  descendants 
had  been  freed  and  removed  from  this  country  after  a 
century,  and  had  carried  with  them  into  their  new 
homes  no  trace,  or  only  the  slightest,  of  a  belief  in  a 
Christian  heaven  and  hell,  or  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  body.  The  voices  of  hope  and  consolation  which 
brought  sweet  comfort  to  so  many  millions  of  dying 
Egyptians,  telling  of  a  loving  Judge  and  Deliverer  at  the 
great  Day,  of  the  journey  through  the  shadowy  Amenti, 
and  the  blessed  hfe  of  the  departed,  did  not  apparently 
for  centuries  touch  the  ears  of  the  dying  Hebrews. 
Probably  hundreds  and  thousands  said  with  Hezekiah: 
"  For  sheol  cannot  praise  thee,  death  cannot  celebrate 
thee :  they  that  go  down  into  the  pit  cannot  hope  for 
thy  truth.  The  living,  the  living,  he  shall  praise  thee, 
as  I  do  this  day."  ^  Or  with  the  author  of  Ecclesiastes : 
*  Isaiah  xxxviii.  i8,  19. 


44  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

"  For  the  living  know  that  they  shall  die :  but  the  dead 
know  not  anything,  neither  have  they  any  more  a  re- 
ward ;  for  the  memory  of  them  is  forgotten,  as  well  their 
love  as  their  hatred ;  and  their  envy  is  now  perished."  ^ 
There  are  indeed  some  evidences  of  Egyptian  influence 
on  the  mode  of  garments  worn  by  the  Jewish  priests, 
their  sacrifices  of  atonement,  and  the  ornaments  of  the 
Tabernacle ;  ^  but  of  the  faith  of  the  followers  of  Osiris 
in  a  continued  existence  there  is  the  least  possible  trace. 
Egyptian  mythology  has  touched  the  people,  as  we  see 
in  the  story  of  the  golden  calf  and  the  hidden  teraphim ; 
but  ancient  Egyptian  religion  in  its  own  peculiar  spir- 
ituality or  its  faith  in  a  future  Divine  judgment  did  not 
penetrate  the  Hebrew  masses. 

But  it  was  not  so  with  their  great  leader,  Moses.  From 
childhood  he  had  undoubtedly  been  in  intercourse  with 
the  earnest  and  religious  thinkers  who  belonged  to  the 
Egyptian  priestly  class.  He  heard  their  secret  beliefs, 
which  were  not  to  be  divulged  to  the  crowd.  Amid 
the  multitude  of  deities  worshipped  by  the  masses,  the 
deifying  of  animals  and  reptiles,  the  disgusting  super- 
stitions into  which  the  Egyptian  religion  had  degenerated, 
he  heard  from  these  solitary  thinkers  of  One,  by  name 
Xopcr,  who  was  before  all,  over  all,  and  in  all,  —  the 
Self-existing,  the  All-beginning,  the  Source  of  all  life 
and    action,   the    Eternal,    Immortal,    and    Invisible ;     he 

1  Ecclesiastes  iv.  5,  6.  2  Angessi:  L'figypte  et  MoYse. 


THE  JEWS  AND   EGYPTIANS.  45 

learned,  doubtless,  that  the  other  so-called  gods  were 
only  manifestations  of  this  Infinite  One,  or  were  spirits 
beneath  him. 

It  is  possible  that  he  read  on  the  pediment  of  the 
Temple  of  Isis  that  wonderful  ancient  inscription,  "  I  am 
he  that  is,  and  was,  and  shall  be."  It  is  not  probable 
that  these  ancient  and  secret  faiths  were  adopted  in  all 
respects  by  Moses,  for  he  belonged  to  a  race  visited  by 
higher  inspirations ;  but  they  made  a  background  in 
his  mind,  over  which  future  inspirations  could  play.  As 
the  teachings  of  a  Christian  childhood  will  in  this  age 
sometimes  open  the  soul  later  to  the  highest  inspiration, 
so  Egyptian  monotheism  perhaps  prepared  Moses  for 
his  wonderful  revelation. 

The  history  of  this  momentous  event  in  the  inner  life  of 
the  great  Jewish  emancipator  is  given  with  distinctness. 
God  has  been  especially  worshipped  and  communed  with, 
in  all  ages,  on  the  tops  of  mountains.  Moses  had  with- 
drawn to  the  grand  heights  and  sublime  granite  peaks  of 
the  ridge  where  Mount  Horeb  appears  in  the  southern 
extremity  of  the  Sinaitic  peninsula.  It  is  a  region  still 
known  for  the  grandeur  of  its  outlines  and  the  wonderful 
beauty  of  its  coloring,  especially  under  evening  and  sun- 
set lights.  There,  in  those  almost  inaccessible  solitudes, 
the  lower  earth  shut  out  by  a  sea  of  white  clouds,  this 
leader  of  men  sought  communion  with  the  unseen  Source 
of  life.      Perhaps  while  gazing  into  the  dark-blue  depths 


46  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

of  the  vault  above,  or  at  night  following  the  paths  of  the 
clear  orbs  of  light,  there  came  to  the  soul  of  Moses  the 
grandest  inspiration  granted  to  man,  —  the  revelation  of  a 
personal  Being  who  came  not  from  any  birth,  who  was 
when  all  things  were  void,  who  is  now,  and  shall  be  when 
all  worlds  have  ceased  to  be.  He  is  revealed,  not  as  the 
son  of  Kronos  and  Chaos,  of  Gea  and  Ouranos,  of  Eros 
and  Pncuma ;  he  is  no  creature  of  mythology ;  he  has 
the  reverend  name  Jahveh,  the  I  am  that  I  am,  the 
Self-existent  He  is  behind  all  time  and  space,  and  all 
matter  and  spirit ;  the  One,  so  awful  that  his  name  was 
to  be  the  most  revered  of  all  possible  things;  the  Self- 
containing,  All-embracing,  Eternal.  And  yet  to  Moses, 
not  a  brute  force,  but  a  Spirit,  a  person  of  righteousness, 
punishing  evil  by  the  laws  of  heredity,  and  in  like  manner 
showing  compassion  and  tender  mercy.  This  inspiration 
of  Jahveh  carried  with  it  future  revelation,  and  coming 
moral  progress  for  the  world  ;  the  moral  code,  or  Ten 
Commandments,  supported  by  infinite  power  and  wisdom ; 
the  widening  revealing  of  the  sympathy  and  love  of  this 
Spirit,  and  the  final  perfecting  of  humanity  through  union 
with  him,  by  means  of  his  highest  manifestation  in  later 
ages.  But  this  profound  monotheism  had  already  become 
rooted  among  the  Jewish  people.  They  lived  in  Egypt 
during  the  decadence  of  its  ancient  faith,  when  its  most 
disgusting  and  degrading  idolatry  and  superstition  pre- 
vailed.     The  idea  of  the  one  God,  which  had  been  the 


THE  JEWS  AND  EGYPTIANS.  47 

inspiration  of  early  Egyptian  thinkers,  had  died  out  among 
the  masses.  The  statues  and  figures  of  innumerable  di- 
vinities represented  what  remained  of  that  sublime  and 
ancient  faith.  Only  the  learned  and  the  spiritual-minded 
among  the  chosen  and  secret  circles  of  the  priests  be- 
lieved in  that  God  whom  so  many  prayers  and  inscriptions 
represented  as  having  existed  in  all  past  ages  and  as  to 
exist  in  all  future. 

Probably  the  thoughtful  and  the  initiated  among  the 
people  still  considered  the  various  divinities  as  local 
manifestations  of  the  Infinite  and  Unnamable,  but  the 
masses  of  the  nation  had  fallen  into  the  lowest  forms 
of  idolatry.  The  Jews,  though  so  much  inferior  to 
their  task-masters  in  learning  and  civilization,  were  in- 
spired with  profound  faith  in  Jahveh,  and  probably  felt 
an  intense  abhorrence  for  the  superstitions  of  the  race 
who  held  them  in  bondage.  The  natural  result  was, 
that  even  the  grand  truths  believed  in  by  this  ancient 
people  of  the  Nile  did  not  anywhere  touch  the  minds  of 
these  Semitic  herdsmen.  They  did  not  spend  a  moment's 
thought  on  the  "day  of  account"  and  the  future  life  re- 
vealed to  the  Hamitic  thinkers ;  they  classed  them  all  to- 
gether under  "the  worship  of  the  dead  gods,"  ^  as  idolatry 
was  called  at  a  later  period  of  the  same  people.  And 
under  the  higher  inspiration  of  Moses,  it  is  possible  that 
the  new  conception  of  Jahveh,  the  self-existent  and 
^  See  Teachings  of  the  Twelve  Apostles:  Qiuiv  vfKpwv. 


48  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

awful,  the  one  Person  who  is  and  was  and  is  to  be,  and 
who  holds  the  power  of  righteousness  in  the  world,  so 
filled  their  thoughts  and  hearts  that  they  did  not  dwell  on 
what  might  be  their  future  condition  in  the  unseen  life. 
It  was  enough  for  them  that  Jahveh  lived,  and  that  all 
men  and  all  things  were  in  his  hands.  This  at  least  seems 
to  us  the  most  probable  explanation  of  the  singularly 
slight  influence  of  the  Egyptian  dogmas  upon  the  religion 
of  the  Hebrews. 

The  faith  in  Jahveh  as  a  Being  of  righteousness,  and 
a  constantly  higher  conception  of  him  as  a  compassion- 
ate Father  and  loving  Creator,  carried  with  it  naturally 
the  belief  in  a  continued  existence  of  union  with  him. 
In  very  early  ages  the  tradition  of  Enoch  as  being 
united  wnth  Jahveh  without  passing  through  the  pangs  of 
death,  showed  what  lay  at  the  bottom  of  this  faith  as 
among  the  possibilities  of  the  future ;  and  in  the  Book  of 
Job,  and  among  the  Psalms  of  David  and  other  singers, 
and  in  the  utterances  of  the  Prophets,  this  hope  of  a  future 
life  with  God  comes  forth  clear  and  distinct.  But  it  cannot 
be  said  that  the  faith  in  immortality  among  the  Hebrews 
is  in  any  way  derived  from  the  faith  of  the  Egyptians.  It 
is  true  the  famous  passage  in  Job,  wherein  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body  is  so  clearly  set  forth,  bears  very  evident 
marks  of  Egyptian  influence.^  Such  an  influence  would 
naturally  be  expected  from  the  wandering  nomad  Semitic 
^  See  Angessi. 


THE  JEWS  AND  EGYPTIANS.  49 

chieftain,  whose  genius  under  a  higher  inspiration   framed 
that  subHme  drama. 

But  it  should  be  remembered  that  in  those  early  ages, 
as  in  the  present,  the  air  was  full  of  certain  thoughts  and 
ideals  peculiar  to  separate  races,  and  the  grand  concep- 
tions and  imaginings  of  one  people  inevitably  floated  over 
into  the  intellectual  atmosphere  of  another.  The  Egyp- 
tian faith  in  immortality  and  a  coming  judgment  was  scat- 
tered far  beyond  the  borders  of  the  Nile,  and  the  intense 
and  profound  Hebrew  conviction  of  an  Eternal  Being  who 
led  the  world  toward  righteousness,  reached  thinkers  in 
every  country  who  otherwise  despised  the  half-savage 
tribe  that  held  this  belief.  There  was  a  considerable  com- 
merce in  those  early  days,  movements  of  large  cara- 
vans, the  sailing  of  little  vessels  from  one  coast  to  another, 
and  the  wanderings  here  and  there  of  eager  and  curious 
travellers.  The  secrets  of  one  nation  gradually  became 
known  to  the  thinkers  of  another,  and  the  great  truths 
which  had  inspired  solitary  leaders  among  distant  tribes 
slowly  diffused  themselves  to  far-away  scholars  in  other 
lands.  The  mysteries  and  inner  truths  held  by  the  priests 
of  one  nation  finally  became  the  property  of  the  ordinary 
citizens  of  another;  and  the  divine  inspirations  which  had 
been  granted  to  a  few  in  remote  ages  were  thus  conveyed 
to  the  many  in  distant  times  and  places.  It  is  true  that 
these  inspirations  were  soon  over-flooded  by  tides  of 
worldliness  and  animalism,  yet  they  left  here  and  there  in 
the  human  mind  seeds  of  a  divine  life. 


50  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

The  principal  influence  of  the  secret  Egyptian  religion 
on  the  Jews  is  no  doubt  seen  in  the  profound  monothe- 
istic faith  of  Moses,  and  in  his  connection  of  religion  with 
a  high  morality. 

The  experience  of  ages,  and  among  peoples  far  more 
cultivated  than  either  Egyptians  or  Jews,  shows  how  diffi- 
cult it  is  for  the  human  mind  to  grasp  and  retain  the  in- 
spiration of  a  "  God  of  righteousness." 

Moses  was  granted  that  sublime  conviction,  and  through' 
that  inspiration  has  moved  all  succeeding  ages.  To  a 
less  degree  some  ancient  Egyptian  thinkers  had  reached 
a  like  point  of  moral  progress.  The  devout  Hamitic  be- 
liever in  the  "  negative  defence  "  of  the  sinner  before  Osiris 
(so  often  quoted),  and  the  Jew  uttering  the  code  of  the 
Ten  Commandments,  both  trusted  in  a  God  who  loved 
righteousness,  and  who  demanded  righteousness  of  his 
creatures. 

Note.  —  Schrader  derives  the  name  Jahveli  from  the  Assyrian  god 
Jahon  (Cuneif.  Inscr.,  p.  23),  and  Renan,  in  his  History  of  Israel 
(p.  70),  follows  him.  Tlie  Aramaic  word  Hawa,  which  seems  allied 
to  these  names,  means  breathy  or  life,  or  bciiig.  The  version  given 
in  our  Bible  of  Self-Existence,  seems  perfectly  consistent  with  this 
derivation. 

The  Genesis  narrative  (iv.  26)  indicates  an  ancient  period  when 
men  began  to  call  the  Infinite  One  by  the  name  of  Jahveh. 


CHAPTER  III. 

AKKADIAN   PENITENTIAL   PSALMS. 

God  my  Creator,  stand  by  my  side  ! 

Keep  thou  the  door  of  my  lip,  guard  thou  my  hands, 

O  Lord  of  light !  Akkadian  Prayer. 

THE  investigations  of  the  last  few  years  in  the  cunei- 
form inscriptions  of  Babylonia  have  brought  forth 
remarkable  results,  both  as  regards  an  ancient  faith  and  a 
forgotten  people.  In  northern  Babylonia  existed  probably 
three  thousand  years  before  Christ  a  race  who  attained  a 
considerable  degree  of  cultivation,  and  who  are  supposed 
to  have  invented  the  cuneiform  mode  of  writing.  They 
have  been  called  "Akkadians,"^  or  Mountaineers,  from 
the  mountainous  region  on  the  northeast,  whence  they 
probably  issued.  They  were  long  thought  to  be  of  stock 
foreign  to  the  Semitic-Assyrian  race  who  inhabited  this 
region,  and  were  believed  to  be  Turanian,  or  connected  in 
language  with  such  races  as  the  Finns,  Turks,  and  Mon- 
gols. But  closer  investigation  ^  makes  it  probable  that 
they  were  mainly  Semitic  in  blood,  though  perhaps  with 
strong  Turanian  mixture.     The  language  of  their  inscrip- 

1  Sayce.     Akkad,  or  Agade,  their  city,  is  mentioned  in  Genesis. 

2  La  pr^endue  Langue  d'Accad.     J.  Halevy.     Also  Delitzch,  and 
Professor  Lyon's  paper  before  the  American  Oriental  Society  in  1887. 


52  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

tions  and  tablets  may  have  been  a  kind  of  classical  or 
sacred  dialect  of  the  Semitic-Assyrians.  This  ancient  peo- 
ple had  made  a  considerable  progress  in  civilization  even 
two  thousand  years  before  Christ,  and  possibly  nearly  four 
thousand  years.^  They  had  founded  great  libraries  ;  their 
scholars  had  written  treatises  on  astrology,  magic,  and 
certain  branches  of  mathematics ;  they  possessed  various 
histories  of  the  wars  and  exploits  of  the  Assyrian  kings, 
and  had  constructed  temples  and  many  public  buildings, 
and  (to  judge  from  the  cuneiform  tablets)  seem  to  have 
carried  on  elaborate  commercial  affairs.  This  race  or 
people  is  deeply  interesting  to  the  student  of  religions, 
because  it  manifestly  drew  its  religious  traditions  from  the 
same  source  as  the  Hebrews.  And  from  the  region  inhab- 
ited or  influenced  by  the  Akkadians  came  forth  one  of  the 
great  figures  of  history,  —  Abraham,  the  father  of  mono- 
theism. It  seems  to  have  been  a  people  with  a  deep  sense 
of  the  mysterious  and  supernatural.  The  Chaldean 
magic  became  known  to  all  Oriental  races.  It  w^as  in 
that  stage  of  development  in  which  it  especially  wor- 
shipped the  elemental  powers,  or  the  spirits  of  earth  and 
storm,  and  sky  and  sun,  and  dreaded  the  evil  powers  of 
the  universe. 

A  very  ancient  and  remarkable  invocation  to  "The  Seven 
Evil  Powers "  of  the  world   has   been   dug  out    from  the 

^  A  date  now  given  to  Sargon  the  Great  is  3800  B.  c,  supposed  to 
be  derived  from  his  tablets. 


AKKADIAN  PENITENTIAL   PSALMS.  53 

cuneiform.  It  is  the  product  of  the  genius  and  reverence 
of  this  people,  —  the  Akkadians.  The  mysterious  signifi- 
cance attached  to  the  number  seven  is  common  to  them 
with  many  Oriental  races. 

The    Seven   Evil   Spirits.^ 
I. 
Seven  are  they  !    Seven  are  they  ! 
In  the  sea's  depths  are  they  seven  ! 
In  the  heaven's  heights  are  they  seven  ! 


In  the  sea  deep  down  their  birth ; 
Not  men  are  they  ;  not  women  they ; 
Wives  take  they  not,  sons  have  they  not, 
Order  and  good- will  know  they  not, 
Prayers  and  wishes  hear  they  not. 


Seven  are  they  !    Seven  are  they  ! 
Seven  adi  si-iia  [evil  spirits]  -  are  they.* 

1  Schrader's  translation.     Die  Hollenfahrt  von  Istar. 

2  Others  translate  adi  si-tia  as  a  numeral,  or  twice  seven. 

•*  Man  they  are  not,  nor  womankind  ; 
For  injury,  they  sweep  from  the  main, 
And  have  wedded  no  wife  but  the  wind, 
And  no  child  have  begotten  but  pain; 
Man  they  are  not,  nor  womankind. 
Fear  is  not  in  them,  nor  awe, 
Supplication  they  heed  not,  nor  prayer, 
For  they  know  no  compassion  nor  law. 
And  are  deaf  to  the  cries  of  despair; 
Fear  is  not  in  them,  nor  awe. 

Professor  Dyer's  Translation. 


54 


THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 


In  the  following  hymn  the  conception  of  a  Heaven- 
God  has  come  forth,  one  who  struggles  with  the  ele- 
mental, mysterious  spirits  of  evil. 

Hymn   to   the   Fire-God. 

O  Fire-god,  supreme  on  high,  the  first-born,  the  mighty,  supreme 

enjoiner  of  the  divine  commands  of  Anu  ! 
The  fire-god  enthroneth  with  himself  the  friend  that  he  loveth ; 
He  bringeth  forth  the  enmity  of  those  seven  evil  spirits.  .  .  . 
O  Fire-god,  how  were  those  seven  begotten,  how  were  they  nurtured  ? 
Those  seven  in  the  mountain  of  the  sunset  were  born, 
Those  seven  in  the  mountain  of  the  sunrise  grew  up.  .  .  . 
As  for  them,  in  heaven  and  earth  they  have  no  dwelling ; 
Hidden  is  their  name. 
Among  the  sentient  gods  they  are  not  known.^ 

This  ancient  invocation  also  has  been  preserved :  — 
"  From  the  curse,  O  Spirit  of  heaven,  protect  us  ! 
O  Spirit  of  earth,  protect ! 
O  Spirit  of  the  Lord  of  lands,  protect ! 
O  Spirit  of  the  Lord  of  light,  protect  !  "  ^ 

In  later  development  the  same  reverent  spirit  is  directed 
towards  both  their  own  gods  and  the  gods  of  the 
Assyrians,  and  we  find  this  prayer:  — 

"  May  Bel,  the  King,  my  Creator,  pardon  ! 

May  Hea,  Spirit  of  earth,  pardon  ! 

May  Merodach,  King  of  angels,  pardon  ! 

May  Istar,  Goddess  of  love,  pardon  ! 

In  the  days  of  sin  may  they  cleanse  him. 

Whoever  he  be  !  "  ^ 

1  Sayce :  Hibbert  Lectures,  1S87,  p.  180. 

2  Biblical  Arcliacology,  vi.  539.  ^  Ibid. 


AKKADIAN  PENITENTIAL   PSALMS.  55 

In  their  mixture  with  a  Semitic  people,  the  Akkadians 
undoubtedly  felt  some  touches  of  that  inspiration  which 
has  glorified  one  humble  Semitic  tribe,  the  Hebrews, — 
an  inspiration  which  sent  forth  from  this  region  Abraham, 
and  caused  him  to  abandon  the  polytheism  of  his  kin- 
dred,^ and  which  a  thousand  years  later  made  a  wild 
barbaric  chieftain  of  the  same  race,  David,  the  mouth- 
piece of  the  prayers  and  aspirations  of  all  succeeding 
ages.  The  resemblance  of  these  Akkadian  prayers  to 
those  of  David  and  to  the  Psalms  is  truly  remarkable ; 
they  show  a  form  of  expression  so  moulded  in  the  fur- 
nace of  intense  feeling  as  to  pass  down  among  these 
races  for  a  thousand  years  as  the  truest  human  words  to 
set  forth  man's  highest  feelings.  Some  ancient  Akkadian 
had   risen  out  of  his   bondage  to   elemental   powers   and 

1  "  And  Joshua  said  unto  all  the  people,  Thus  saith  Jahveh,  the 
God  of  Israel :  Your  fathers  dwelt  of  old  time  beyond  the  river 
[Euphrates],  even  Terah,  the  father  of  Abraham,  and  the  father  of 
Nahor  ;  and  they  served  other  gods.  And  I  took  your  father  Abra- 
ham from  beyond  the  river,  ....  Now,  therefore,  fear  Jahveh  and 
serve  him  in  sincerity  and  in  truth  ;  and  put  away  the  gods  which 
your  fathers  served  beyond  the  river,  and  in  Egypt ;  and  serve  ye 
Jahveh"  (Joshua  xxiv.  2,  3,  14). 

"  This  people  [the  Hebrews]  are  descended  of  the  Chaldeans,  and 
they  sojourned  heretofore  in  Mesopotamia  because  they  would  not 
follow  the  gods  of  their  fathers  which  were  in  the  land  of  Chaldea. 
For  they  left  the  way  of  their  ancestors  and  worshipped  the  God  of 
heaven,  the  God  whom  they  knew;  so  they  cast  them  out  from  the 
face  of  their  gods,  and  they  fled  into  Mesopotamia  and  sojourned 
there  many  days.  Then  their  God  commanded  them  to  depart  and 
to  go  into  the  land  of  Canaan  "  (Judith  v.  6-9). 


56  THE   UXKNOWN  GOD. 

his  dread  of  magical  incantations,  and  had  received  a 
vision  of  a  Being  who  loved  righteousness  and  hated 
iniquity,  and  who  was  best  served  by  purity  of  heart ; 
he  grasped  the  idea  of  sin  and  of  moral  purity;  he  felt 
that  all  in  life  and  the  future  depended  on  this  God  of 
righteousness ;  he  alone  could  save  from  sin  and  death. 
Apparently  the  human  mind  in  its  highest  flights  of 
devotion  cannot  attain  a  more  perfect  view  of  God,  and 
of  our  moral  relation  to  him,  than  did  this  ancient 
heathen  from  the  valley  of  Mesopotamia  two  thousand 
years  before  the  advent  of  Christ. 

Akkadian   Penitential   Psalms. i 

The  heart  of  my  Lord  was  wroth,  to  his  place  may  he  return. 
The  transgression  that  I  commit,  my  God  knoweth  it. 
The  water  of  my  tears  do  I  drink. 

0  my  Lord,  my  transgression  is  great,  many  are  my  sins. 
The  forbidden  thing  did  I  eat. 

My  Lord  in  the  wrath  of  his  heart  hath  punished  me. 

1  cried  aloud ;  there  was  none  that  would  hear  me. 

I  am  in  darkness  and  trouble  ;  I  lifted  not  myself  up  : 

To  my  God  my  distress  I  referred,  my  prayer  I  addressed. 

How  long,  O  my  God,  shall  I  suffer? 

O  Lord,  thy  servant  thou  dost  not  restore. 

In  the  waters  of  the  raging  floods  seize  his  hand  ! 

The  sin  that  he  hath  sinned,  to  blessedness  bring  back  ! 

The  transgressions  he  hath  committed,  let  the  winds  carry  away  ! 

My  transgressions  are  before  me  ;  may  thy  judgments  give  me  life. 

1  Translated  by  A.  H.  Sayce:  Record.s  of  Past,  vii.  153.  This 
prayer  must  be  anterior  to  the  seventeenth  century  b.  c.  See 
Schrader :  Hollenfalirt,  p.  90. 


AKKADIAN  PEXITENTIAL   PSALMS.  5/ 

Another   Psalm. 

0  my  Lord,  my  sins  are  many,  my  trespasses  are  great, 
And  the  wrath  of  the  gods  hath  plagued  me  with  disease, 

And  with  sickness  and  with  sorrow.    I  fainted,  but  no  one  stretched 
forth  his  hand ; 

1  groaned,  but  no  one  drew  nigh ; 
I  cried  aloud,  and  no  one  heard. 

O  Lord,  do  not  abandon  thy  servant  ! 

In  the  waters  of  the  great  storm  seize  his  hand  ! 

The  sins  which  he  hath  committed,  turn  thou  to  righteousness. 

O  my  God,  my  sins  are  seven  times  seven  !  ^ 

Akkadian   Prayer. 
God  my  Creator,  stand  by  my  side. 
Keep  thou  the  door  of  my  lips,  guard  thou  my  hands, 
O  Lord  of  light !  ^ 

These  prayers  come  from  the  depths  of  the  human 
soul.  They  are  filled  with  the  sense  of  God  and  of  sins 
as  an  evil  to  him. 

Prayer   for   the   King. 

Length  of  days. 

Long  lasting  years. 

Strength  of  sword, 

Long  life, 

Extended  years  of  glory, 

Pre-eminence  among  kings, 

Grant  ye  to  the  king,  my  Lord, 

Who  hath  given  such  gifts  to  his  gods. 

May  he  attain  to  gray  hairs 

And  old  age. 

And  after  the  life  of  these  days, 

1  Records  of  Past,  ill.  136.  -  Ibid.,  iii.  137. 


58  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

In  the  feasts  of  the  silvery  mountains,  the  heavenly  courts, 

The  abode  of  blessedness, 

And  in  the  light  of  the  happy  field, 

May  he  dwell  a  life 

Eternal,  holy, 

In  the  presence  of  the  gods 

Who  inhabit  Assyria.^ 

In  all  the  ancient  Hebrew  annals  there  is  scarcely  one 
passage  which  conveys  so  distinct  a  belief  in  a  future  life 
as  do  the  following  prayers.  Yet  the  faith  in  one  God 
has  not  the  simplicity  which  made  the  Jews  such  a  power 
in  the  world's  history. 

Prayer   for   a   Soul. 

Like  a  bird  may  it  fly  to  a  lofty  place  ; 
To  the  holy  hands  of  its  God  may  it  ascend. 
The  man  who  is  departing  in  glory, 
May  his  soul  shine  as  radiant  as  brass. 
To  that  man  may  the  sun  give  life  ! 
Grant  him  an  abode  of  happiness  ! 

This  picture  which  follows,  of  the  death  of  "  the  strong 
man  "  ages  ago,  has  all  the  pathos  and  nature  of  a  scene 
of  yesterday.  So  died  our  father  or  friend;  he  who  had 
been  so  strong  and  brave  lay  as  one  to  whom  "  his 
strength  doth  not  return ;  "  and  to  him  as  to  the  old 
Akkadian  came  a  divine  messenger  of  love,  bringing  "  a 
goblet  from  the  heavenly  treasure-house ;  "  and  by  faith 
we  behold  the  weak  made  strong,  and  the  righteous  man 
"shining  as  a  silver  goblet"  in  the  celestial  mansions. 
^  Records  of  Past,  iii.  133. 


AKKADIAN  PENITENTIAL  PSALMS.  59 

Death   of  a   Righteous   Man. 

Bind  the  sick  man  to  heaven,  for  from  the  earth  he  is  being  borne 
away. 

From  the   brave  man  who  was  so  strong  hath  his  strength  de- 
parted. 

To  the  righteous  servant  the  force  doth  not  return  ; 

In  his  bodily  frame  he  Heth  dangerously  ill. 

But  Istar,  who  in  her  dwelling  is  grieved  concerning  him, 

Descendeth  from  her  mountain  unvisited  of  men  ; 

To  the  door  of  the  sick  man  she  cometh. 

The  sick  man  listeneth  : 

"Who  is  there,  who  cometh?" 

"  It  is  Istar,  daughter  of  the  Moon-god." 

They  approach  the  body  of  the  sick  man  ; 

They  bring  a  goblet  from  the  heavenly  treasure-house. 

That  righteous  man  may  now  be  risen  high, 

May  shine  like  that  goblet. 

Like  pure  silver  may  his  garment  be  shining  white  ! 

Like  brass  may  he  be  radiant ! 

To  the  sun,  greatest  of  the  gods,  may  he  ascend  ! 

And  may  the  sun,  greatest  of  the  gods,  receive  his  soul  into  his 
.holy  hands  !  ^ 

After   Death. 

Wash  thy  hands  !  purify  thy  hands  ! 

Let  the  gods,  thy  elders,  wash  their  hands^  purify  their  hands, 

Eat  sacred  food  from  sacred  platters. 

Drink  sacred  water  from  sacred  vessels. 

Prepare  thyself  for  the  kingdom  of  the  just !  ^ 

Sense  of  Sin.  —  From  the  days  of  my  youth  am  I  bound  fast  to 
the  yoke  of  my  sin.'' 

1  Records  of  Past,  iii.  134,  135.  2  ibid.^  xi.  161. 

3  Budge  :  Babylonian  Life,  p.  148. 


6o  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

There  is  in  the  following  that  sense  of  moral  obligation 
to  man  which  usually  only  follows  the  highest  stage  of 
religious  faith. 

A  Defence.  —  Have  I  estranged  father  and  son,  brother  and 
brother,  or  friend  and  friend  ?  Have  I  not  freed  the  captive,  re- 
leased the  bound,  and  delivered  him  who  was  shut  in  prison? 
Have  I  resisted  my  god  ?  .  .  .  Have  I  taken  land  not  my  own, 
or  entered  with  wrong  desires  the  house  of  my  fellow?  Have  I 
shed  man's  blood,  or  robbed  one  of  his  clothing?^ 

Among  the  remarkable  features  of  human  belief  is 
a  faith  in  a  divine  Mediator.  The  Akkadians  and  As- 
syrians embodied  this  in  a  being  called  Silik-khi,  and* 
later  Merodach  or  Marduk. 

Prayers   to   the   Mediator.^ 

0  Benefactor,  who  can  escape  thy  hail? 

Thy  will  is  the  sublime  sword  with  which  thou  rulest  heaven  and 
earth. 

1  commanded  the  sea,  and  the  sea  became  calm  ; 

I  commanded  the  flower,  and  the  flower  ripened  to  grain  ; 

I  commanded  the  circuit  of  the  River  [Euphrates],  and  by  the  will 

of  the  Benefactor  I  turned  its  course. 
How  sublime  art  thou  ! 
What  transitory  being  equal  to  thee  ! 
O  Benefactor  amongst  all  the  gods. 
Thou  art  the  rewarder  !  .  .  . 

1  Budge  :   Babylonian  Life,  p.  148. 

2  Silik-khi,  the  Benefactor  of  man,  Mediator  between  God  and  man 
Lenormant,  Chald.  Mag.,  pp.  192,  193),  and  the  One  who  raises  the 
dead. 


AKKADIAN  PENITENTIAL  PSALMS.  6 1 

O  Lord  of  battles  ! 

Merciful  One  amongst  the  gods  ! 

Generator  who  bringest  back  the  dead  to  life  ! 

Beneficent  King  of  heaven  and  earth  !  .  .  . 

To  thee  is  the  Ufe  of  life, 

To  thee  belong  death  and  life  ! 

Another   Invocation. 

Thine  the  depth  of  the  ocean  ! 

Thine  are  all  human  beings,  all  who  breathe,  all  who  bear  a  name 

and  exist  on  the  earth's  surface, 
The  whole  of  the  four  regions  of  the  world,  the  archangels  of  the 

legions  of  heaven  and  earth,  how  many  soever,  — 
These  are  thine. 
Thou  art  the  life-giver  ! 

Thou  art  the  Saviour  !  f 

The  Merciful  One  among  the  gods  ! 
Cure  thou  this  plague  !  ^ 

This  god,  Merodach  the  Mediator,  raises  the  dead  to 
life,  and  combats  the  great  dragon  -  and  the  powers  of  evil. 
He  was  first  worshipped  as  the  Sun-god,  and  later  as  Bel, 
or  Baal,  the  Lord.  It  is  interesting  that  in  the  inscriptions 
of  Cyrus  (circ.  549  B.  C.)  illustrating  his  reign,  he  (Cyrus) 
is  spoken  of  as  "  governing  in  justice  and  righteousness," 
and  Merodach  is  described  as  "  beholding  with  joy  the 
deeds  of  his  vicegerent,  who  is  righteous  in  hand  and 
heart."  ^ 

1  Lenormant. 

2  This  struggle  is  represented  on  a  well-known  tablet. 
8  Sayce  :  Ancient  Monuments,  p.  156. 


62  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

"  Merodach,"  says  the  inscription,  "  who  in  his  necessity- 
raised  the  dead  to  hfe,  who  blesseth  all  men  praying  in 
need,  hath  in  goodness  drawn  nigh  to  him,  hath  made 
strong  his  name."  The  prophet  Isaiah  (or  his  succes- 
sor) uses  like  words  of  the  same  Cyrus :  "  I  [God]  have 
raised  him  up  in  righteousness."  ^  "  For  Jacob  my  ser- 
vant's sake,  and  Israel  mine  elect,  I  have  even  called 
thee  by  thy  name ;  I  have  surnamed  thee,  though  tJioit 
hast  not  knozvn  mcy^ 

"I  am  Jahveh,  and  there  is  none  else;  there  is  no  god 
beside  me.  I  girded  thee  though  thou  hast  not  known 
me."  The  inspired  prophet  of  Israel  evidently  believed 
that  the  Unknown  God  was  guiding  and  strengthening 
the  Persian  or  Elamite  conqueror,  though  he  knew  him 
not.2 

Psalm  to  God. 

{Akkadian) 

In  heaven  who  is  great  ?     Thou  alone  art  great ! 

On  earth  who  is  great  ?     Thou  only  ! 

When  thy  voice  soundeth  in  heaven,  the  gods  fall  prostrate. 

When  thy  voice  soundeth  on  earth,  the  spirits  kiss  the  dust 

O  Thou,  thy  words  who  can  resist  ? 

Who  can  rival  them  ? 

Among  the  gods,  thy  brothers,  thou  hast  no  equal. 

God,  my  Creator,  may  he  stand  by  my  side  ! 

Keep  thou  the  door  of  my  lips  ! 

^  Isaiah  xlv.  13.  2  Jbid.,  xiv.  4,  5. 

'  Sayce  has  brought  out  this  thought  strikingly  in  his  "  Ancient 
Monuments." 


AKKADIAN  PENITENTIAL   PSALMS.  63 

Guard  thou  my  hands,  O  Lord  of  light  !  ^ 

O  Lord,  who  trusteth  in  thee,  do  thou  benefit  his  soul  !  - 

To  the  ancient  worshipper  the  sun  embodied  the  high- 
est manifestation  of  the  Unnamable.  It  came  forth  from 
the  great  darkness,  bringing  hght  and  Hfe  and  gladness. 
It  was  the  Unknown  God  showing  himself  to  the  world. 
To  the  Akkadian  and  Assyrian  he  was  not  alone  light, 
radiant  and  glorious,  but  truth  itself;  he  made  lies  to 
vanish. 

To   the   Sun-God. 

O  Lord,  at  thy  command 

Will  his  sins  be  atoned, 

His  transgressions  be  removed.^ 

O  Sun,  I  have  called  unto  thee  in  the  bright  heavens  ! 

In  the  shadow  of  the  (holy)  cedar  art  thou  ! 

Thy  feet  are  on  the  summits. 

The  lands  have  longed  for  thee  ;  • 

They  have  longed  for  thy  coming,  O  Lord  ! 

Thy  radiant  light  illuminates  all  countries ; 

Thou  makest  lies  to  vanish  ; 

Thou  destroyest  the  noxious  influence  of  portents,  omens,  spirits, 

dreams,  and  evil  apparitions  ; 
Thou  turnest  wicked  plots  and  evil  apparitions  to  a  happy  issue.* 

1  Records  of  Past,  iii.  136,  137.     Schrader  :  Hollenfahrt,  p.  100. 

2  Ancient  tablet  of  Babylon.     Budge:  Babylonian  Life,  p.  145. 
8  Schrader,  p.  96. 

*  Quoted  by  Ragozin.     Story  of  Chaldea,  p.  171. 


64  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Another  Psalm  to  the  Sun-God. 

O   Sun-god,  king  of  heaven  and  earth,  director  of  things  above 

and  below, 
O  Sun-god,  thou  that  clothest  the  dead  with  life,  deUvered  by  thy 

hand, 
Judge  unbribed,  director  of  mankind, 
The  mercy  is  supreme  of  him  who  is  lord  over  trials.  .  .  . 
Creator  of  all  the  universe,  the  Sun-god,  art  thou.  .  .  . 

0  Father  supreme,  I  am  debased,  and  walk  to  and  fro, 
With  scourges  and  in  expiation  I  beat  myself; 

My  litdeness  I  knew  not,  the  sin  I  have  committed  I  knew  not ; 

1  am  small,  and  he  is  great,  the  walls  of  my  god  may  I  pass.^ 

Original  Sin.  —  One  peculiarity  of  the  deep  sense  of  sin 
among  this  ancient  people  was  shared  by  the  Jews,  and 
perhaps  with  both  was  a  Semitic  transmission,  —  the  pro- 
found belief  in  the  inheritance  of  sinful  desires,  in  trans- 
mitted depravity.     Says  one  psalm  :  — 

"  Against  the  evil  spirit,  disturber  of  his  body, 
Whether  it  be  the  sin  of  his  father, 
Or  whether  it  be  the  sin  of  his  mother. 
Or  whether  it  be  the  sin  of  his  elder  brother, 
Or  whether  the  sin  of  some  one  unknown, 
We  pray."  - 

The  following  prayer  to  the  supreme  god  of  "  Ur  of 
the  Chaldees,"  which  is  so  stamped  by  monotheism  that 
it  might  almost  have  been  uttered  to  Jahveh  himself,  was 

1  Hollenfahrt,  p.  321.  This  prayer  then  changes  into  a  magical 
incantation,  showing  a  mixture  of  the  old  Akkadian  superstition  with 
the  Semitic  monotheism. 

^  Records  of  Past,  iii.  141. 


AKKADIAN  PENITENTIAL   PSALMS.  65 

possibly  listened  to  by  Abraham,  and  was  perhaps  fer- 
vently uttered  by  Terah  his  father,  who  worshipped  the 
gods  of  that  country. 

Prayer  to   the   God   of  Ur. 
Lord   and   prince    of  gods,  who  in  heaven   and   earth  alone  is 

supreme, 
Father,  Lord  of  the  firmament, 
Lord  of  the  gods,  .  .  . 
Merciful  one,  begetter  of  the  universe,  who  foundeth  his  illustrious 

seat  among  Hving  creatures, 
Father,  long-suffering  and  full  of  forgiveness,  whose  hand  upholdeth 

the  life  of  all  mankind, 
Lord,  thy  divinity,  like  the  far-off  heaven,  filleth  the  wide  sea  with 

fear.   .  .  . 
Father,  begetter  of  gods  and  men,  who  causeth  the  shrine  to  be 

founded,  who  establisheth  the  offering,  .  .  . 
First-born,  omnipotent,  whose  heart   is   immensity,  and   there  is 

none  whom  he  discovereth. 
Lord,  the  ordainer  of  the  laws  of  heaven  and  earth,  whose  com- 
mand may  not  be  broken, 
Thou  boldest  the  rain  and  the  lightning ;  defender  of  all  living  things, 

there  is  no  god  who  at  any  time  hath  discovered  thy  fulness. 
Li  heaven,  who  is  supreme  ?     Thou  alone,  thou  art  supreme. 
On  earth,  who  is  supreme  ?     Thou  alone,  thou  art  supreme. 
As  for  thee,  thy  will  is  made  known  in  heaven,  and  the  angels  bow 

their  faces. 
Thy  will  is  made  known  upon  earth,  and  the  spirits  below  kiss  the 

ground.   .  .  . 
Thy  will    hath    created   law  and   justice,  so  that   mankind   have 

established  law.  .  .  . 
King  of  kings,  whose  divinity  no  god  resembleth,  look  with  favor 

on  this  thy  city,  Ur.^ 

^  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  192. 
5 


66  THE    UNKXOIVIV  GOD. 

Another  Akkadian  Psalm. 

Whoso  feareth  not  his  God  will  be  cut  off  even  like  a  reed. 
Whoso  honoreth  not  the  gods,  his  bodily  strength  shall  waste  away ; 
Like  a  star  of  heaven  his  light  shall  wane  ; 
Like  waters  of  the  night  he  shall  pass  away.^ 

If  evil  thou  doest, 
To  the  eternal  sea 
Thou  shalt  surely  go.^ 

These  outcries  of  human  sorrow  and  repentance,  it 
must  be  remembered  by  our  readers,  are  among  the  most 
ancient  of  the  prayers  and  litanies  of  mankind.  When 
they  were  stamped  in  strange  characters  on  the  bricks 
and  cylinders  and  tablets  of  Chaldean  buildings,  Abra- 
ham had  not  been  long  separated  from  his  idolatrous 
kindred,^  and  from  the  people  of  the  plains,  being  called 
by  the  divine  voice  within  him.*  They  preceded  by  a 
thousand  years,  probably,  the  like  impassioned  utterances 
of  David  and  the  singers  of  the  psalms  of  the  Jews. 
They  are  the  cry  of  a  soul  feeling  what  a  pure  God  is 
and  what  human  sin  is.     They  are  still  the  language  of 

1  Schrader:   Hollenfahrt,  p.  97. 

2  Ragozin  :  Chaldea,  p.  210.  This  utterance  is  believed  to  go  back 
to  3800  B.C. ;  it  is  from  Sargon's  inscriptions.  (See  Records  of  the 
Past,  xi.  154.)  ^  Joshua  xxiv.  2,  14. 

*  Acts  vii.  There  seems  good  reason  from  the  cuneiform  inscrip- 
tions, to  put  Chedorlaomer,  King  of  Elam,  mentioned  Genesis  xiv., 
as  connected  with  the  Elamite  invasion  of  Canaan,  about  2000  B.  c, 
which  gives  an  approximate  date  for  Abraham.  (See  Budge  and 
Sayce.)  Hommel  places  the  date  for  Abraham  at  about  2170  B.C. 
Semitische  Volker,  p.  131. 


AKKADIAN  PENITENTIAL  PSALMS.  6j 

man  when  he  measures  his  hfe  by  the  standard  of  per- 
fect goodness.  The  Chaldean  cuneiform  psalms  might  be 
uttered  by  all  men  in  every  age  of  the  world.  It  will 
seem  strange  to  the  reader  that  such  exalted  and  pure 
thoughts  could  be  expressed  among  a  people  such  as  the 
Chaldean  Akkadians,  given  up  to  the  worship  of  the 
powers  and  demons  of  Nature,  and  every  kind  of  super- 
stition, among  whom  human  sacrifice  prevailed,  and 
whose  public  records  on  the  tablets  are  a  horrible  history 
of  murders,  tortures,  and  brutalities.  But  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  divine  inspiration  called  a  man  from 
this  very  region,  the  son  of  an  idolater,  under  the  same 
Semitic  influences  as  were  the  Akkadians,  and  he  left  his 
polytheistic  kindred,  and  founded  the  purest  monotheism 
of  history.  This  divine  voice,  no  doubt,  sounded  in  the 
ears  of  these  ancient  Akkadians.  The  horrible  rite  of 
human  sacrifice  was  practised  by  all  the  tribes  related 
to  the  Jews,  and  probably  at  times  by  the  Jews  them- 
selves. The  bloody  cuneiform  records  of  Chaldea  are 
no  worse  than  those  of  all  ancient  countries.  They 
relate  the  exploits  of  great  captains  and  kings.  But 
during  all  these  terrible  wars  and  times  of  oppression 
people  must  have  planted  and  sown,  and  quiet  domestic 
histories  of  aff"ection  and  piety  must  have  been  lived, 
and  the  "  still  small  voice "  listened  to  in  the  camel- 
driver's  tent  or  under  the  shepherd's  booth,  even  as  it 
is  now  in  the  humblest  places. 


68  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

It  would  not  be  fair  to  judge  of  the  Christianity  of  the 
nineteenth  century  from  the  records  of  Napoleon's  cam- 
paigns or  the  battle-pictures  of  Versailles.  History  and 
art  give  but  a  fragment  of  human  life. 

The  Akkadians  were  naturally  deeply  influenced  by  the 
Semitic  Assyrians,  and  perhaps  were  mingled  in  blood 
with  them.  The  Assyrians  were  polytheistic,  yet  many 
scholars  maintain  that  their  national  god,  Assur,  was  in 
his  original  form  the  first  and  source  of  all  gods,  the 
One,  the  Good.  He  was  called  Ilou,i  and  no  temple 
was  erected  to  him  in  Chaldea,^  but  Babylon  (Babel, 
gate  of  God)  is  called  from  him.  He  is  not  always 
distinguished  from  his  manifestations,  such  as  Anu,  the 
heaven,  and  later  the  heaven-god.  Assur  is  spoken  of 
as  the  "  Father  of  all  gods,"  the  "  King  of  all  gods,"  •'  he 
who  ruleth  supreme  over  all;"  his  people  are  the  "ser- 
vants of  Assur,"  and  his  enemies  the  "enemies  of  Assur." 
He  placeth  kings  on  their  thrones,  making  their  reigns 
glorious  and  lengthening  their  years;  they  ask  him  for 
victory  and  to  grant  all  their  wishes.  He  is  the  "  Lord 
of  hosts,"  that  is,  of  all  spirits. 

Prayer  to  Assur. 
Pray  thou  !  Pray  thou  ! 
Before  the  couch  pray  ! 
Before  the  throne  ;  before  the  canopy  ! 

^  The  kindred  word  to  El,  or  God,  in  all  the  Semitic  races. 
*  Lenormaiit. 


AKKADIAN  PENITENTIAL   PSALMS.  69 

Before  the  dawn's  light,  pray  ! 

By  the  tablets  and  books,  pray  ! 

By  the  hearth, 

By  the  threshold. 

At  the  sun-rising, 

At  the  sun-setting,  pray  !  ^ 

As  we  have  seen  in  the  psalms,  the  ancient  Akkadians 
and  Assyrians  bch'cvcd  in  a  future  life  of  blessedness  for 
the  righteous ;  and  in  the  famous  legend  of  Istar's  descent 
into  Hades  there  is  an  allusion  to  a  place  of  punish- 
ment. The  description  of  Hades  in  the  cuneiform  tablets 
is  highly  poetic,  and  has  a  tone  as  of  Dante. 

Istar's  Descent. 

To  the  land  of  no  return,  to  the  far-off,  to  regions  of  corruption, 

Istar,  the  daughter  of  the  Moon-god,  her  mind  set 

To  the  house  whose  entrance  is  without  exit. 

To  the  road  whose  way  is  without  return, 

To  the  house  whose  entrance  is  bereft  of  light ; 

A  place  where  much  dust  is  their  food,  their  meat  mud, 

Where  light  is  never  seen,  where  they  dwell  in  darkness ; 

Ghosts  like  birds  whirl  round  and  round  the  vaults  ; 

Over  the  doors  and  wainscoting  there  lieth  thick  dust."'' 

One  of  the  forms  of  manifestation  of  Ilou  was  as  Sun- 
god. 

Prayer  to  the  Sun-God. 

Lord,  illuminator  of  the  darkness, 

Who  piercest  the  face  of  darkness  ! 

Merciful  God,  who  settest  up  those  that  be  bowed  down, 

^  Biblical  Archasoloofy,  vi.  540. 
2  Budge:  Babylonian  Life,  p.  140. 


70  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Who  sustainest  the  weak  ! 

Towards  thy  Hght  the  great  gods  turn  their  glances. 

The  archangels  of  the  abyss,  every  one   of   them,  contemplate 

gladly  thy  face. 
The  language  of  praise  is  one  word ; 
Thou  directest  it. 

The  host  of  their  heads  seek  the  light  of  the  sun  in  the  south ; 
Like  a  bridegroom  thou  risest  joyful  and  gracious. 
In  thy  lightnings  thou  dost  reach  afar  to  the  boundaries  of  heaven. 
Thou  art  the  banner  of  the  wide  earth. 
O  God,  the  men  who  dwell  afar  off  contemplate  thee  and  rejoice  !  i 

A  peculiar  interest,  as  we  have  said,  follows  the  Akka- 
dians and  the  Assyrians,  because  not  only  were  they 
touched  by  these  divine  inspirations,  but  their  tradi- 
tions were  in  many  forms  closely  similar  to  those  of  the 
Jews.  They  had  a  like  history  of  the  creation,  an  allu- 
sion to  the  temptation,  a  narrative  of  the  flood  as  a 
moral  punishment,  and  of  the  confusion  of  tongues,  and 
they  practised  a  similar  observance  of  the  Sabbath. 
But  the  Akkadian  history  of  creation  is  immeasurably 
behind  the  Jewish  in  grandeur  and  simplicity,  and  is 
stamped  by  polytheism.  Neither  tradition  seems  likely 
to  have  been  derived  from  the  other,  but  both,  as  might 
easily  happen,  from  a  common  Semitic  source  of  great 
antiquity.^ 

One  very  curious  legend,  however,  to  which  there  is 
allusion   only  in   the  Scripture,^    the    "  revolt    in  heaven," 

1  Budge:  Babylonian  Life,  p.  136. 

2  Dr.  Dillman  especially  holds  to  this  view,  as  do  others. 
*  Rev.  xii.  7-9;  Isa.  xxiv.  21,  22;  Jude  i.  6-9. 


AKKADIAN  PENITENTIAL   PSALMS.  7 1 

which  must  be  a  very  ancient  Semitic  tradition,  de- 
scribes the  "  God  of  Life  divine  "  as  sitting  supreme  and 
beneficent  amid  thousands  of  adoring  angels  (or  gods, 
Hi),  who  were  chanting  his  praises  in  celestial  songs, 
when  a  loud  cry  of  discord  broke  up  that  holy  harmony, 
"  spoiling,  confusing,  and  confounding  the  hymns  of 
praise." 

"  Then  he  of  the  bright  crown  sounded  a  powerful  blast  on  his 
trump,  such  as  might  wake  the  dead,  and  prohibited  return,  and 
stopped  the  service  to  those  rebel  angels  and  sent  them  to  the 
gods,  his  enemies.  In  their  place  he  created  mankind.^  The 
first  who  received  life  dwelt  along  with  him.  To  them  he  gave 
strength  never  to  neglect  his  word,  following  the  serpents  whom  his 
hand  had  made.  And  may  the  God  of  divine  speech  expel  from 
the  whole  assembly  (the  five  thousand)  those  wicked  (the  one  thou- 
sand) who  in  the  midst  of  his  heavenly  chorus  had  shouted  evil 
blasphemy,  —  the  God  Assur,  who  had  seen  the  malice  of  those 
who  had  deserted  their  allegiance,  to  raise  a  rebellion."  ^ 

This  ancient  inscription  clearly  bears  the  stamp  of 
monotheism  as  once  existing  in  Chaldea. 

1  See  Milton's  similar  thought,  Paradise  Lost,  i.  184-191  :  — 

"  Glory  to  him  whose  just  avenging  ire 
Had  driven  out  the  ungodly  from  his  sight, 
And  the  habitations  of  the  just ;  to  him 
Glory  and  praise,  whose  wisdom  had  ordained 
Good  out  of  evil  to  create,  instead 
Of  spirits  malign  a  better  race  to  bring 
Into  their  vacant  room,  and  thence  diffuse 
His  good  to  worlds  and  ages  infinite." 

2  Biblical  Archaeology,  iv.  349 ;  Talbot's  translation. 


72  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Each  year  now  increases  the  discoveries  in  regard  to 
this  ancient  people.  No  doubt  much  hght  will  be 
thrown  on  the  Bible  by  future  investigations  in  this 
field.  But  each  new  fact  makes  plainer  the  wonderful 
superiority  of  the  leaders  of  the  Hebrews  in  religious 
ideas  over  the  related  Semitic  tribes,  or  the  neighboring 
peoples  of  other  races. 

From  our  long  habit  of  regarding  inspiration  as  an  act 
solely  of  God,  and  not  accompanied  by  any  receptivity 
or  motion  of  the  human  will  on  the  part  of  those  who 
are  thus  elevated,  we  do  not  sufficiently  render  justice  to 
the  Jews'  great  services  in  human  history.  We  feel  the 
obligations  of  modern  progress,  for  instance,  to  the 
Roman  ideas  of  law  and  to  the  Greek  ideas  of  beauty. 
We  recognize  the  immense  indebtedness  of  the  world  to 
the  elevated  conceptions  of  Plato  and  Socrates.  But 
when  we  consider  what  Abraham  or  Moses  has  done  for 
the  advance  of  mankind,  how  few  are  ready  to  render 
them  the  gratitude  they  deserve.  They  seem  mere  in- 
struments in  the  hands  of  an  all-\vise  Providence.  It  was 
God  that  worked  in  them,  not  they  themselves.  But  a 
closer  study  of  their  history  and  of  their  surroundings 
will  show  that  they  were  men  of  like  passions  with  our- 
selves. They  struggled  with  endless  temptations,  and 
many  nearest  to  them  yielded ;  but  their  victory  has 
blessed  all  succeeding  generations. 


AKKADIAN  PENITENTIAL  PSALMS.  73 

Abraham,  according  to  the  tradition,  sitting  almost 
under  the  shadow  of  the  famed  temple  of  the  Moon-god 
at  Ur,  and  surrounded  by  a  thousand  solicitations  to 
Akkadian  magic,  is  yet  able  to  hold  his  mind  open  to 
the  inspiration  of  the  One  God,  and  in  this  faith  to  leave 
country  and  kindred,  and  break  even  from  his  father's 
religion. 1  Though  his  kindred  still  cling  to  the  worship 
of  many  gods,  he  is  immovable  in  his  belief.  He  may  be 
said  to  have  founded  the  purest  monotheism  of  history. 
When  one  considers  the  transmitted  effects  of  his  life, 
and  later  of  the  leadership  of  Moses,  it  may  truly  be  said 
that  these  early  Jews  are  the  greatest  benefactors  of 
mankind  in  ancient  history.  Amid  tribes  of  far  greater 
wealth  and  higher  refinement  given  over  to  superstition, 
these  remarkable  leaders  preserved  themselves  and  a  few 
of  their  people  from  the  contamination  of  polytheism, 
and  handed  down  the  faith  in  a  pure  religion.  No  equal 
services  had  ever  been  rendered  before  to  human  progress. 
The  Jews  of  modern  days  ought  to  be  forever  honored  for 
such  progenitors  ;  and  a  race  which  could  produce  such 
men  deserves  the  lasting  respect  of  mankind. 

The  objections  of  Kuenen  and  others,  that  the  Jews  were 

not  monotheistic  till  the  time  of  the  Prophets,  and  then 

only  among  a  select  class,  do  not  seem  sound.     This  great 

inspiration    or    belief  was    transmitted    from    age    to    age 

1  Genesis  xii.  1-3. 


74  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

among  a  limited  number  of  Hebrews,  and  thus  preserved 
for  the  modern  world.  That  great  numbers  were  false  to 
it  is  true.  In  like  manner,  multitudes  among  every  Chris- 
tian people  are  untrue  to  Christianity;  and  yet  its  great 
truths  and  inspirations  are  transmitted  from  one  century 
to  another.  Moreover  the  early  Jewish  belief  in  many 
gods  does  not  exclude  the  belief  in  one  Supreme  God, 
even  as  a  modern  Christian  may  believe  in  many  evil 
spirits  of  greater  or  less  power,  and  yet  have  no  doubt  of 
a  Supreme  Spirit.  Even  the  belief  in  a  God  especially 
favoring  a  given  people  is  consistent  with  a  faith  in  his 
universal  government.  Many  a  modern  Englishman  be- 
lieves that  God  has  a  special  charge  of  the  queen  and 
the  British  kingdom,  and  yet  has  no  doubt  he  is  the  God 
of  the  whole  earth. 

Jahveh  was  indeed  the  God  of  the  Hebrews,  but  many 
knew  him  as  "  Lord  of  all  nations." 

The  Unknown  God  was  thus  revealed,  as  appears  in 
these  Akkadian  psalms,  thousands  of  years  ago  to  a  poetic 
and  inventive  people  in  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates,  prob- 
ably related  to  the  Hebrews.  Under  this  inspiration  they 
uttered  words  which  "  cannot  die,"  which  descended 
among  the  poets  and  singers  of  the  Jews  to  later  ages, 
and  through  them  still  move  the  world.  It  is  not  im- 
probable that  in  future  ages  all  other  poetry  of  Greek  or 
Latin  or  English  poets  and  dramatists  will  be  like  echoes 
preserved  in  the  phonograph  of  forgotten  melodies,  while 


AKKADIAN  PENITENTIAL   PSALMS.  75 

the  utterances  and  songs  of  ancient  Akkadians  and 
Hebrews  will  still  be  preserved  fresh  in  the  hearts  of 
common  people,  and  will  be  the  chosen  expression  of 
man's  highest  aspirations  and  purest  prayers. 

Both  races  draw  in  part  their  great  ideas  of  monotheism 
from  an  ancient  tradition  of  creation,  which  with  the 
Akkadians  became  so  intertwined  with  polytheism  as  to 
degrade  their  whole  conception  of  the  universe,  and 
finally  to  unfit  the  people  for  leading  human  progress. 
No  human  faith  or  morality  can  be  enduring  unless  it 
rests  on  a  belief  in  one  God  of  righteousness. 

Note.  —  The  entire  rejection  by  a  certain  school  of  critics  of  the 
historical  existence  of  the  Jewish  patriarchs  and  of  Abraham,  seems 
not  justifiable  by  any  sound  rule  of  criticism.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  destructive  writers  like  Seinecke,  Wellhausen,  Kuenen, 
Tiele,  Stade,  and  numerous  others,  have  no  sources  of  knowledge 
superior  to  those  of  Ewald,  Stanley,  Hommel,^  and  like  scholars,  and 
their  inferences  are  drawn  from  facts  in  the  possession  of  all  students. 
The  profound  and  indelible  impression  made  by  the  personality  of 
Abraham  on  the  traditions  of  three  religions,  the  Jewish,  Mohamme- 
dan, and  Christian,  would  alone  be  an  argument  for  his  historical  re- 
ality Then  the  narrative  of  the  "  Book  of  Origins  "  (Genesis)  has  an 
archaic  and  simple  character  which  belongs  to  ancient  traditions.  The 
story  of  Abraham's  life  is  interspersed  with  allusions  to  forgotten  and 
unknown  peoples,  and  to  antique  customs  and  childlike  faiths,  which 
are  a  characteristic  of  remote  ages  and  their  annals.  Furthermore, 
the  cuneiform  investigations  confirm  the  truth  of  their  "local  color- 
ing," and  of  the  probability  of  their  historical  reality.  The  names  of 
cities  and  peoples  which  occur  accidentally  in  the  Genesis  narrative 

1  Father  Honimel,  a  very  impartial  and  somewhat  rationalistic  writer,  de- 
clares in  his  Semitische  Volker,  p.  131,  his  entire  disagreement  with  Stade 
and  his  school,  as  to  the  historical  existence  of  Abraham  and  the  general 
truth  of  the  ancient  Jewish  history. 


76  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

are  often  found  in  Akkadian  inscriptions,  and  allusions  to  historical 
events  in  tiie  Jewish  annals  can  be  filled  out  from  the  cuneiform  tab- 
lets of  Babylonia.  The  date  for  Abraham  (about  2000  b.  c.)  which 
is  assumed  by  some  cuneiform  scholars  such  as  Budge, ^  Sayce,-  and 
others,  is  an  inference  from  a  statement  in  the  cuneiform  records  of  an 
Elamite  invasion  of  Chaldea,  and  of  a  king  supposed  to  be  the  brother 
of  the  Chedorlaomer  mentioned  in  Genesis  (xiv.  1-9). 

It  may  truly  be  said  that  no  single  fact  brought  forth  by  the  cunei- 
form tablets,  which  cover  the  history  of  thousands  of  years  in  Baby- 
lonia and  Chaldea,  tells  against  the  historical  accuracy  of  the  Book 
of  Origins,  and  many  incidentally  confirm  it.  The  silence  of  these 
records  of  mighty  races  and  ambitious  conquerors  in  regard  to  a  small 
tribe  of  emigrants  who  left  the  luxurious  cities  and  populous  plains 
of  their  kinsfolk  for  conscience'  .sake,  is  what  might  be  expected. 
Even  a  great  moral  personality  like  Abraham  might  be  utterly  un- 
known to  Akkadian  and  Assyrian  scribes  and  court  historians,  espe- 
cially as  he  had  rejected  the  faith  of  his  people. 

The  Ur-Chasdim  (Ur  of  the  Chaldees),  home  of  Abraham,  is  be- 
lieved by  many  scholars  to  be  Mugheir,  west  of  the  Euphrates,  on 
the  border  of  the  desert,  a  former  seaport,  and  distinguished  by  its 
famed  temple  to  the  Moon-god. 

Even  if  the  composition  of  the  Pentateuch  should  be  more  and 
more  made  probable  as  occurring  in  later  ages,  and  by  several  authors, 
it  would  not  materially  change  the  historical  probability  of  the  events 
described.  Were  Moses  the  compiler,  he  must  have  used  the  tradi- 
tions or  written  documents  current  among  his  people.  The  emio-ra- 
tion  of  Abraham  and  his  family  from  Mesopotamia,  in  order  to 
maintain  a  pure  religion,  is  a  fact,  like  the  departure  of  the  Puritans 
from  England  in  the  seventeenth  century  for  similar  objects,  which 
would  probably  be  stamped  indelibly  on  the  memories  and  traditions 
of  the  emigrating  race.  Even  if  all  records  perished,  a  true  and  suffi- 
cient history  would  survive  in  the  oral  narrative  transmitted.  But 
Abraham  left  a  people  who  possessed  an  important  literature,  and 
some  of  his  followers  may  have  understood  the  art  of  writing  or 
stamping  on  clay  tablets. 

1  Babylonian  Life,  p.  43. 

2  Ancient  Monuments,  p.  49.     Meyer  :  Geschichte  des  Alterthums,  p.  161. 


AKKADIAN  PENITENTIAL  PSALMS.  7/ 

The  use  of  signet  rings  ^  implies  writing.  At  all  events,  the  vast 
fund  of  Eastern  traditions  in  regard  to  this  great  character  gives  assur- 
ance of  a  striking  historical  personality  behind  them ;  and  the  tradi- 
tion in  the  Book  of  Origins  seems  at  once  the  most  simple  and  most 
probable. 

The  lack  of  all  allusion  to  Abraham  in  Assyrian  cuneiform  tablets 
is  no  proof  of  his  being  an  unhistorical  character.  If  the  Puritans 
liad  not  been  the  forefathers  of  a  powerful  nation,  how  little  should  we 
have  heard  of  them  in  English  histories.  Their  departure  would  have 
been  a  mere  ripple  on  the  surface  of  affairs  in  the  British  Empire  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  And  the  emigration  of  Abraham  and  a  few 
hundred  persons  was  probably  only  one  of  many  such  movements  by 
small  Semitic  tribes  from  the  great  Semitic-Assyrian  Empire  "  beyond 
the  River  "  to  Canaan  and  Egypt. 

1  Genesis  xxxviii.  i8. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   GREEK   MYSTERIES. 

Ceres  hath  made  the  Athenians  two  gifts  of  the  greatest  value,  —  corn,  which 
brou^'ht  Its  out  of  brutality,  and  the  Mysteries,  which  those  who  share,  have  hopes 
sweeter  than  all  the  rest  of  existence.  —  IsoCRATES. 

"O  EMARKABLE  associations  existed  among  the  clas- 
sic peoples  which  at  periods  of  their  history  had  a 
certain  resemblance  to  the  churches  of  Christian  times. 
These  societies  were  secret,  and  members  were  admitted 
after  rites  of  purification.  The  effects  of  initiation  were 
supposed  to  be  of  the  highest  moral  and  spiritual  kind ; 
and  to  the  members  of  the  inner  circles  of  these  asso- 
ciations, truths  were  beheved  to  be  revealed  of  the  most 
sublime  nature.  It  is  supposed  that  these  truths  were 
conveyed  by  signs  and  symbols,  and  therefore  were  not 
clear  to  common  minds ;  so  that  the  masses  gathered 
one  class  of  beliefs  from  the  "Mysteries,"  and  initiated 
quite  another.  The  very  name  given  by  the  Greeks  to 
these  initiations,  Teletai,^  is  of  the  same  root  as  that  ap- 
plied by  the  Epistles  of  Saint  Paul  to  perfection  of  char- 
acter,—  the  "finishings"  or  "completings"  of  the  soul. 

1  Plutarch  gives  another  rendering  of  this  word  "  Teletai,"  as  of  the 
"  last "  and  deepest  speculations  about  the  gods,  wherein  they  are  made 
the  source  of  all  good  (Morals,  iv.  432). 


THE   GREEK  MYSTERIES.  79 

The  full  comprehension  of  these  secret  societies  is  ren- 
dered the  more  difficult  in  that,  owing  to  the  secret  char- 
acter of  their  rites  and  their  nightly  meetings,  they  ran 
very  early  into  wild  and  unlicensed  revels  and  indulgence. 
Furthermore  the  testimony  about  them  seldom  comes  from 
their  contemporaries,  but  from  classic  writers  long  after  the 
time  of  their  highest  bloom.  Yet  this  testimony  comes 
from  such  varied  writers  and  at  such  distant  periods,  and 
the  most  agreeing  so  nearly  in  the  main  features,  that  it 
must  at  least  be  received  as  representing  the  common 
opinion  of  the  most  cultivated  races  of  antiquity,  and  no 
doubt  conveyed  essential  truth. 

The  idea  then  of  the  Orphic  and  similar  Mysteries 
among  the  Greeks  seems  to  us  to  be  the  uniting  of  men 
and  women  for  secret  worship  and  for  the  hearing  of 
certain  great  truths  symbolically  taught,  which  had  been 
handed  down  by  Egyptian  priests  and  others  among  the 
initiated. 

Though  we  know  not  exactly,  it  is  altogether  probable 
that  these  representations  were  like  the  Mystery-plays  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  The  sceptical  Greek  or  Roman  was 
introduced  into  the  grand  dim-lighted  hall,  and  there  saw 
the  gods  of  Hades,  and  the  fearful  punishments  of  the 
wicked,  and  the  different  sentences  passed  on  the  various 
classes  of  the  vicious ;  or,  again,  was  permitted  a  vision  of 
the  happy  Elysian  fields,  where  with  the  upper  gods  the 
dead  were  passing  an  eternal  life  of  unbroken  peace  and 


So  THE   UA' KNOWN  GOD. 

joy.  Then  following  these  powerful  dramatic  scenes,  were 
uttered  by  the  priests,  in  mysterious  voices  as  if  from 
oracles,  the  great  truths  that  had  probably  descended 
from  Egypt,  —  the  existence  of  one  eternal  God,  Father 
and  source  of  all ;  the  immortality  of  the  soul ;  the  com- 
ing judgment;  and  the  possible  union  of  the  human  spirit 
with  its  divine  origin.  These  and  like  truths,  taught  amid 
such  scenes,  made  an  enduring  impression  on  the  spec- 
tator, and  he  could  say  truthfully,  as  did  Diodorus, 
that  all  life  was  sweeter  and  better  after  sharing  in  the 
Mysteries. 

The  continuity  of  religion  carried  down  the  beliefs  in 
the  unity  of  God,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  a  com- 
ing moral  judgment,  from  Egyptian  thinkers  through 
these  secret  associations  to  the  early  and  later  Greeks, 
and  even  to  the  time  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

The  ancient  Greek  hymns  called  the  "  Orphic  Hymns  " 
no  doubt  bore  a  part  in  this  transmission  of  ancient  Egyp- 
tian theology,  and  were  probably  recited  in  the  celebration 
of  the  Mysteries.  The  Unknown  God  was  acknowledged. 
Thus  an  ancient  hymn  sung  in  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries 
by  the  priest  said,  "  Go  on  in  the  right  way  and  contem- 
plate the  sole  governor  of  the  world.  He  is  One,  and  of 
Himself  alone,  and  to  that  One  all  things  owe  their  being. 
He  worketh  through  all,  was  never  seen  by  mortal  eyes, 
but  doth  himself  see  every  one."  ^ 

^  Eusebius:  Prep.  Evang.,  lib.  xiii. 


THE   CREEK  MYSTERIES.  8 1 

In  the  Orphic  Hymns,  the  first  principle  in  the  universe 

is  declared   to  be  "the   thrice  Unknown   Darkness;^  but 

Zeus  is  the  All-parent,  the  Principle  and  End  of  all."^ 

"  All  that  is  past  and  all  that  e'er  shall  be 
Occultly  in  fair  connection  lies, 
In  Zeus,  ruler  of  the  skies."  ^ 

"  Thus  Zeus  within  his  breast  all  things  concealed 
And  into  beauteous  light  from  thence. revealed.^ 
Zeus  is  first,  Zeus  last,  origin  of  all,  king  of  all, 
One  power,  one  ruler,  one  God  !  "  ^ 

Orphic  Hymns.^ 

Zeus. 

O  Zeus  Kronios,  sceptre-bearer,  most  high,  mighty  one,  self- 
begotten,  father  of  gods  and  men,  begetter  of  all,  beginning  of  all 
things,  end  of  all  things,  earth-quaker,  increaser,  purifier,  all-shaker, 
lightener  and  thunderer,  creator  Zeus,  hear  me ;  thou  of  many 
forms,  grant  me  health  without  fault,  and  divine  peace,  and  the 
glory  of  wealth  without  stain  ! 

Zeus."^ 
.  .  .  Great  glory  to  thee,  O  most  high  Kronides,  giver  of  blessings, 
giver  of  shelter  from  harm;  who  can  sing  the' deeds  of  Zeus? 
Hail  to  thee,  Father,  hail  again,  and  give  us  perfectness  and  plenty ! 
Without  virtue,  w^ealth  knoweth  not  how  to  increase  a  man,  nor 
without  abundance,  virtue.     But  give  us  both  virtue  and  plenty  ! 

^  (TKOTos  dyucoarov  Tins.  ^  Taylor,  p.  46. 

*   Ibid.,  p.  47.  *   Ibid.;  ujjxj]  ndvrcov,  navrcov  t€  reXfuTTj. 

^  Taylor:  Eleusinian  Mysteries. 

°  Quoted  by  Sturz ,   ed.    Cleanthes.      I    am  under  obligations  to 
Prof.  J.  G.  Croswell  for  these  translations. 
■^  Callimachus. 


82  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 


Hymn. 


.  .  .  Having  looked  upon  the  divine  vision,  meditate  stead- 
fastly thereon,  directing  the  whole  gaze  of  thy  mind's  eye  upon  it. 
Step  forward  boldly  upon  the  path,  and  behold  the  sole  king  of  all 
the  universe ! 

One  is  he,  self-begotten,  from  him  are  all  things  sprung,  and  in 
them  all  he  moves.  No  mortal  hath  seen  him,  but  he  surely 
seeth  all  men.  He  giveth  evil  after  good  to  mortals,  horrid  war 
and  tearful  grief.  There  is  no  other  one  beside  the  great  King ; 
himself  I  do  not  see ;  a  cloud  is  round  about  him.  In  all  mortal 
eyes  there  are  only  mortal  pupils,  too  weak  to  see  Zeus,  reigning 
over  all  things.  He,  sitting  on  his  golden  throne,  rests  on  the 
brazen  sky,  and  the  earth  hath  he  put  under  his  feet.  His  right 
hand  he  stretcheth  to  the  ends  of  the  ocean,  the  high  hills  tremble 
round  about,  and  the  rivers,  and  the  deeps  of  the  hoary  and  dark 
blue  sea. 

Socrates,  just  before  his  death,  is  represented  as  saying: 

"Well  then,  so  prepared,  the  soul  departs  into  that  invisible 
region  which  is  of  its  own  nature,  —  the  region  of  the  divine,  the 
immortal ;  and  then  its  lot  is  to  be  happy,  in  a  state  in  which  it  is 
freed  from  fears  and  wild  desires,  and  the  other  evils  of  humanity, 
and  spends  the  rest  of  its  existence  with  the  gods,  as  those  are 
taught  to  expect  who  are  initiated  in  the  Mysteries.  .  .  .  We  may  well 
believe,  therefore,  that  they  who  instituted  the  Mysteries  were  not 
mere  triflers,  but  that  there  was  in  truth  a  hidden  meaning  in  that 
old  figure,  wherein  they  said  that  he  who  went  uninitiated  and 
unconsecrated  to  the  world  below  should  wallow  in  mire,  but 
that  he  who  had  been  purified  by  initiation  should  dwell  with  the 
gods."  2 

1  Quoted  by  Justin  Martyr,  Clemens  of  Alexandria,  Eusebius,  and 
Cyril. 

2  Phaedo,  p.  68. 


THE  GREEK  MYSTERIES.  83 

Pindar  is  quoted  by  Saint  Clemens  as  saying  of  the 
Eleusinian  Mysteries, — 

"  Blessed  is  he  who  having  seen  those  common  concerns  in  the 
under-world,  knoweth  both  the  end  of  life  and  its  divine  origin 
from  Zeus."  ^ 

Cicero,  copying  Isocrates,  says  beautifully  in  the  Laws: 

"  There  is  nothing  better  than  those  Mysteries  by  which  we  are 

cultivated  and  softened  from  a  wild,  half-savage  mode  of  hfe  into  a 

spirit  of  humanity ;  and  not  only  receive  with  joy  a  mode  of  living, 

but  even  of  living  with  a  better  hope."  ^ 

Many  classic  writers  speak  of  this  better  hope  {spes 
vielior)  which  was  sought  in  the  Mysteries. 

Aristotle  admits  that  the  great  efficiency  of  these  secret 
associations  was  in  their  giving  certain  moral  and  religious 
impressions,  and  creating  certain  states  of  mind,  —  a  de- 
scription which  would  accord  well  with  the  theory  that 
they  taught  religious  truths  dramatically. 

The  classic  writer  who  has  spoken  most  of  the  Myste- 
ries is  unhappily  not  one  to  inspire  the  most  confidence, — 
Apulcius,  an  author  who  has  written  on  the  most  ob- 
scene and  the  most  elev^ltcd  themes.  He  describes  the 
initiated  as  passing  through  a  rite  resembling  baptism,  and 
receiving  precepts  from  the  priest  better  than  all  words.^ 
They  went  forth  almost  convinced  of  a  future  life, 
and   that  terrible   punishments  awaited   the  wicked  there, 

^  Clemens  :  Stroniata,  lib.  iii. 

2  De  Legibus,  ii.  14  ;  ctan  spe  meliore  vivendi. 

2  Metamorphosis,  xi.  23 ;  i/ieliora  voce. 


84  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

and  sweet  peace  and  happiness  the  good  and  pious.     He 

says :  — 

"  I  approached  the  Hmits  of  death,  and  touched  the  very  threshold 
of  the  dark  kingdom  of  Proserpine.  I  passed  through  all  the  ele- 
mental forces  of  nature,  and  was  permitted  to  return  to  life  again. 
At  midnight  I  saw  the  sun  shine  with  unclouded  brilliancy.  I 
came  near  to  the  mighty  gods  of  heaven  and  earth.  I  saw  them 
face  to  face."  ^ 

This  certainly  looks  like  the  impression  made  by  a  re- 
ligious drama. 

Initiation  seemed  a  kind  of  voluntary  death  and  resur- 
rection. The  believers  died  to  their  old  past  and  rose  to 
a  new  hfe;  a  new  sun  shone  upon  them,  and  they  were 
filled  with  divine  influences.^  Apuleius  addressed  an 
Egyptian  goddess  revealed  in  these  Mysteries  in  the 
most  impassioned  words,  which  were  evidently  borrowed 
from  the  Egyptian  litanies  we  have  quoted  in  a  preceding 
chapter. 

Even  Jews  admitted  the  good  influence  of  these  rites, 
for  Josephus  says  that  the  Mysteries  taught  that  God 
contains  all  things,  and  is  a  Being  every  way  perfect  and 
happy,  is  self-existent  and  sole  cause  of  all  existence, 
beginning,  middle,  and  end  of  all  things.^  He  argues  that 
the  same  revelation  was  made  to  the  Jews  in  their  holy 
writings  as  by  the  Mysteries.     Eusebius  also,  using  the 

^  Metamorpliosis. 

^  Apul.,  xi.  21-24  ;  sole  novo  lati,  plaiiqne  dcorum. 

«  Con.  Ap  ,  ii.  22. 


THE   GREEK  MYSTERIES.  85 

same  words  as  were  employed  in  regard  to  initiation  in 
these  secret  rites,  urges  that  the  Jews  had  the  special 
honor  of  being  "  initiated  "  in  the  knowledge  of  God  the 
Creator,  and  of  true  piety  towards  him. 

Clemens  says  that  the  Egyptians  were  not  wont  to 
reveal  the  Mysteries  indiscriminately  to  all,  nor  expose 
their  truths  concerning  their  gods  to  the  profane,  but  to 
those  only  who  were  to  succeed  to  administration  in  the 
State,  and  to  such  of  the  priests  as  were  most  approved 
by  their  education,  learning,  and   quality.^ 

It  was  a  common  assertion  by  classical  writers  that  the 
great  truths  taught  in  these  secret  associations,  such  as  the 
unity  of  God,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  a  future 
moral  judgment,  came  forth  from  Chaldea  and  Egypt. 
The  doctrine  of  metempsychosis  also  seems  to  have  been 
spread  through  the  teachings  of  these  societies.  "  The 
gods,"  says  Diodorus,  "  assured  through  the  Mysteries 
an  eternal  life,  of  which  the  constant  occupation  should 
be  sweet  worship."  ^  Of  the  Samothracian  rites  he  says : 
"Under  these  all  the  initiated  are  held  as  righteous;  they 
find  their  sins  atoned  for.  .  .  .  They  say  that  the  initiated 
are  more  pious,  more  just,  and  every  way  better  than  they 
were  before."  ^  These  secret  religious  societies  were  the 
ancient  church  of  the  non-Christian  Greek  races,  and  there 
seems  to  have  been  baptism  or  purification  as  a  condition 

^  Stromata,  v.  566.  2  Quoted  by  Bollinger,  p.  176. 

8  Did.  Sec,  v.  549. 


86  THE   UNKNOWN  COD. 

of  membership.  Even  the  satirists  alkide  to  their  influence. 
Aristophanes  represents  two  things  as  securing  his  country- 
men a  better  reception  in  the  under-world,  —  initiation  in 
the  Mysteries,  and  kindness  to  strangers  and  citizens.^ 

Of  all  classic  writers,  Plutarch  speaks  the  most  feelingly 
of  these  rites,  and  of  the  faith  which  had  come  down  from 
Egypt.  "  Isis,"  he  says,  "  communicated  her  doctrine  to 
those  who  by  their  perseverance  in  a  life  sober,  temperate, 
and  separate  from  the  pleasures  of  the  senses,  the  pas- 
sions of  the  flesh,  aspire  to  a  participation  in  the  Divine 
nature;  to  those  who  exercise  themselves  constantly  in  the 
temples  in  severe  practices,  vigorous  abstinences,  the  end 
of  which  is  the  knowledge  of  the  first  and  sovereign  Being, 
which  the  soul  alone  can  conceive,  and  which  the  goddess 
invites  man  to  look  for  in  herself  as  in  the  sanctuary 
where  she  resides.  Isis  is  wisdom,  the  brightness  of  the 
eternal  light,  the  mirror  without  stains  of  the  divine 
majesty,  and  image  of  its  goodness."  ^ 

Or  again:  "All  our  life  is  only  a  sequence  of  errors, 
painful  eff'orts,  long  courses  by  tortuous  roads,  and  without 
issue.  At  the  moment  of  quitting  it,  fears,  terrors,  trem- 
blings, mortal  sweats  come  to  oppress  us ;  but  as  soon  as 
we  are  gone  out  of  it,  we  pass  into  delicious  fields  where 
one  breathes  the  purest  air,  hears  musical  harmonies  and 
sacred  discourses;  in  fine,  where  one  is  struck  by  celestial 
visions.  There  man,  become  perfect  by  his  new  initiation, 
1  Ran.,  p.  451.  2  De  isjg^  pp    j^  2. 


THE  GREEK  MYSTERIES.  87 

restored  to  liberty,  truly  master  of  himself,  celebrates, 
crowned  with  myrtle,  the  most  august  Mysteries,  converses 
with  souls  just  and  pure,  and  sees  with  contempt  the  im- 
pure troops  of  profane  and  non-initiated,  always  plunging 
and  struggling  in  the  mire  of  darkness."^ 

"  The  initiated  are  three  times  happy,  in  that  when  they 
penetrate  to  Hades,  to  them  alone  is,  given  life ;  for  others 
there  is  only  suffering."  ^  It  was  admitted  generally  that 
the  Mysteries  revealed  the  true  end  of  life  and  prepared 
men  thus  for  death.  "  To  die,"  says  Plutarch,  "  is  to  be 
initiated  in  great  mysteries.  ...  As  for  what  you  hear 
others  say  who  persuade  the  vulgar  that  the  soul  when 
once  freed  from  the  body  suffers  no  inconvenience  or  evil, 
nor  is  sensible  at  all,  I  know  that  you  are  better  grounded 
in  the  doctrines  handed  down  to  us  from  our  ancestors,  as 
also  in  the  sacred  mysteries  of  Bacchus,  than  to  believe 
such  stories ;  for  the  religious  symbols  are  well  known  to 
us  who  are  of  this  fraternity."^  In  the  Mysteries  it  is  taught 
that  the  universe  is  not  without  mind,  or  reason,  or  a  pilot.'* 

The  poets  often  speak  of  the  high  morality  and  purity 

required  in  these  associations ;   that  the  initiated  were  the 

only  happy,  both  here  and  hereafter,  and  that  initiation 

began  a  new  life.     Both  metempsychosis  and  a  future  life 

were    taught    under   these    sacred    rites.      The    Christian 

^  Fragt.  de  Imm.     Stob.  Serm.,  c.  274. 

2  Plut. :  Soph.  Fragm. 

'  Plutarch  :  Consol.  ad  Uxoretn,  p.  393. 

^  avoov  Kill  oKoyov  Km  aKv^kpvr^TOV.      Isis  et  Osiris. 


88  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

writers  even  agree  with  this  view ;  thus  Porphyry  compares 
the  state  of  mind  of  the  initiated  during  the  Mysteries  to 
that  of  the  blessed.^ 

It  was  beheved  that  Plato,  guided  by  the  mystic  cere- 
monies, testified  to  the  different  allotments  of  the  purified 
and  impure  souls  in  Hades,  their  several  conditions,  and 
the  three-forked  path  which  led  from  the  peculiar  places 
where  they  were,  and  that  this  was  all  according  to  tradi- 
tional institutions,  every  part  of  which  was  full  of  a  sym- 
bolical representation,  as  is  a  drama.^  Theon  states  also  in 
his  description  of  the  Mysteries  that  the  end  of  all  these 
rites  is  "  friendship  and  interior  communion  with  God."^ 

And  again,  in  the  words  of  Plato :  "  I  must  not  omit  to 
mention  a  tradition  which  is  firmly  believed  by  many,  and 
has  been  recommended  from  those  learned  in  the  Myste- 
ries;  they  say  that  crime  will  be  punished  in  the  world 
below,  and  also  that  when  the  perpetrators  return  to  this 
world  they  will  suffer  for  what  they  did  by  a  compensa- 
tion of  Nature,  and  end  their  lives  in  like  manner  by  the 
hands  of  another."  * 

It  is  but  just  to  say  that  he  also  speaks  of  the  Mysteries 
at  times  with  a  deep  contempt:  "They  produce  a  host  of 
books,  written  by  Musaeus  and  Orpheus,  who  were  chil- 
dren of  the  moon,  and  the  Muses,  by  which  they  perform 
their  ritual,  and  persuade  not  only  individuals   but  whole 

1  Ap.  Stob.  Eclog.  Phys.  2  Proclus-  (Plato),  p  374 

8  Mathematica,  quoted  by  Taylor,  p.  47.       ^  Laws,  ix.  670. 


THE   GREEK  MYSTERIES.  89 

cities  that  expiations  and  atonements  for  sin  may  be 
made  the  sacrifices  and  amusements  which  fill  a  vacant 
hour,  and  are  equally  at  the  service  of  the  living  and  the 
dead ;  the  latter  sort  they  call  Mysteries,  and  they  redeem 
us  from  the  pains  of  Hades,  but  if  we  neglect  them  no 
mortal  knows  what  awaits  us."  ^ 

It  is  possible,  of  course,  that  these  various  writers  of  dif- 
ferent ages  may  have  mistaken  somewhat  the  true  object 
of  the  classic  Mysteries.  It  is  true  that  the  doctrines  which 
they  were  supposed  to  teach  did  not  spread  widely  among 
the  members  of  these  secret  societies.  The  belief  in  the 
unity  of  God,  in  a  future  life,  and  a  coming  judgment,  did 
not  apparently  reach  any  great  number  of  thinkers  in  the 
Greek  and  Roman  communities.  The  origin  of  all  things 
was  still  "  the  thrice  Unknown  Darkness."  These  doctrines 
were  probably  taught  by  symbols  and  dramas,  and  were 
comprehended  by  only  a  few  wise  spirits.  They  certainly 
did  not  affect  to  any  wide  degree  the  morality  or  religion 
of  the  people.  The  Mysteries  themselves  also  degene- 
rated, and  were  often  the  covers  to  hidden  license  and 
wild  orgies.  Still,  the  thread  of  continuity  which  connects 
human  beliefs  no  doubt  bound  together  the  early  mono- 
theism of  Egypt  and  its  belief  in  a  moral  judgment  to 
mankind  with  the  elevated  religion,  some  of  whose  doc- 
trines were  represented  by  Socrates,  Plato,  Plutarch,  and 
some  among  the  great  Stoics. 

^  Republic,  ii.  364. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ZEUS   AS    SPIRITUAL   GOD. 

O  Zens,  whatever  he  be. 

If  that  natne  please  him  loell. 

By  that  on  him  J  call. 

Weighing  all  other  names,  I  fail  to  guess 

Aught  else  but  Zeus,  if  I  would  cast  aside 

Clearly  in  every  deed 

From  off  my  soul  this  weight  of  care. 

Agamemnon,  v.  158. 

A  MONG  the  ancient  Greeks  there  appears  in  their 
"^^  reUgious  behef  a  grand  and  solemn  figure  not 
unlike  the  Jahveh  of  the  Jews.  "  Zeus  Is  the  beginning 
of  all  things,  the  conductor  of  all,"  ^  says  an  ancient  hymn  ; 
the  "  Leader  of  nature,"  in  the  words  of  an  early  Stoic ;  2 
the  "  God  who  made  heaven  and  earth,"  says  another ; 
"  No  one  is  free  but  Zeus ;  "  ^  "  He  existeth  by  himself;  "  ^ 
"  O  Zeus,  Father  Zeus,"  says  another,  "  thou  governest 
the  heavens,  thou  watchest  the  guilty  and  unjust  actions 
of  men,  thou  dost  punish  the  monsters  of  the  world."  ^ 
Solon,  at  the  beginning  of  his  laws,  invokes  Zeus  as  the 

1  ZfO  Tracrwi/  apxh  (Terpandcf,  quoted  by  Clemens  :   Stromata,  vi.). 

2  Cleanthes.  '  /Eschylus :  Prometheus,  50. 
*  yEschylus  :  Suppliants,  v.  600.  ^  Archilochus  :  Fragm.  xviii. 


ZEUS  AS  SPIRITUAL   GOD.  91 

God  of  justice ;  he  is  the  source  of  Hfe  and  death ;  ^  he 
has  remedies  for  all  human  ills ;  ^  he  is  the  God  of  the 
suppliants,  the  very  mild,^  merciful  God.  "  Raise  thy 
eyes  to  Zeus,"  says  the  poet ;  "  from  the  heights  of  the 
heavens  he  observeth  the  unfortunate  who  receive  no 
succor;  the  God  of  suppliants  is  angry  when  the  cries 
of  the  unfortunate  are  not  heard."*  The  word  "  God"  is 
used  by  the  poets  as  a  synonym  for  Zeus.  "  God  gov- 
erneth  all  things  according  to  his  will,"  says  Pindar. 
"  Good  fortune  is  God's  gift  to  mortals."  Zeus  is  the 
king  of  kings ;  he  is  the  God  of  cities  and  republics;  he  in- 
spires the  deliberations  of  assemblies ;  he  is  the  protector 
of  good  faith  in  transactions;  he  is  the  god  of  hospitality, 
a  friend  to  strangers,  good  and  helpful,  the  deity  of 
homes  and  of  firesides,  the  god  of  friendship,  the  avenger 
of  murder  and  adultery,  the  protector  especially  of  the 
married  woman.  Like  Jahveh  he  is  the  god  of  armies  and 
the  protector  of  liberty.^  He  was  "  stronger  than  time 
and  age  and  all-flowing  nature,"  says  an  ancient  writer.^ 
"  He  fills  the  world  and  is  above  it,"  writes  ^schines. 
"  Zeus  is  the  God  of  gods,"  says  Plato.  Terpander  sings 
of  Zeus  as  "  the  head  of  all  things,  the  beginning  of  all." 
"Zeus  was,  and  is,  and  is  to  be,"  said  the  ancient  Dodonian 

^  fw^f  KCLi  Oavdrov  irf ipara  vf^av  (Ap.  Stob.). 

^  TrdvTOiv  (})dpfiaKa  t;^?*.  8  MftXt;(to?. 

*  ^schylus  :   Suppliants,  287- 

^  'EXevOepios. 

®  KpfiTTcov  alavos  (Maximus  Tyrius,  3). 


92  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

inscription,^  —  words  evidently  derived  from  the  celeoratcd 
Egyptian  inscription.  Even  with  Homer  and  Hesiod, 
despite  their  corrupt  mythology,  Zeus  is  often  the  all- 
seeing,  all-knowing,  all-wise,  omnipotent,  governing  the 
universe;  the  just  one,  and  Father  of  men  and  gods.  He 
scndeth  war  and  peace,  health  and  sickness,  hunger  and 
plenty;  kings  hold  from  Zeus  law  and  sceptre,  honor  and 
majesty.  He  is  the  god  of  oaths  and  justice;  he  punishes 
unjust  judgments,  perjury,  and  all  sins;  he  is  the  friend 
of  the  poor  and  the  stranger,  the  father  of  music  and 
song.  He  presides  over  property,  and  becomes  the 
divinity  of  landmarks.  .  He  is  the  highest  ;2  like  Indra, 
the  god  of  thunder,  the  king  of  kings,^  the  shepherd  of 
peoples.  "  There  is  but  one  god,  greatest  among  men 
and  gods,  and  not  like  mortals  in  form  or  mind."* 

Hesiod  compares  the  eye  of  Zeus  to  "  thrice  ten  thou- 
sand immortals  watching  over  the  ways  of  mortal  men."^ 
The  duty  of  man  is  to  avoid  the  smooth  road  to  evil,^ 
to  choose  the  straight  path  of  good,  which,  rough  at  first, 
becomes  easy  to  those  who  work  in  it.'  We  are  to  deal 
with  all  men  after  the  rule  of  righteousness  which  cometh 
t'rom  Zeus.^  Justice  and  Truth  shall  in  the  end  prevail^ 
over  pride  and  violence.     They  who  do  evil  to  others  do 

1  Pausanias.  2  Z^irrTn^. 

2  Baa-tXfuy  l3a(Ti\ea)v.  4  Xenophanes  (Clemens). 
5  Hesiod  :  Works  and  Days,  252.  ^  ibid.,  288. 

'  Ibid.  8  Ibid,  35. 

^   Ibid.  ;   8iKr)  S'  vnep  v^pios  laxft 


ZEUS  AS  SPIRITUAL    GOD.  93 

it  to  themselves.^  The  eye  of  Zeus^  having  seen  all 
things  and  observed  all  things,  also  regards  these  things, 
if  he  so  picascth ;  nor  docs  it  escape  him  of  what  nature 
is  the  justice  which  the  city  encloseth. 

This  great  conception  of  Zeus  belongs  to  a  certain 
stage  of  Greek  thought,  but  is  no  doubt  soon  mingled  with 
a  low  mythology.  Aristotle  says  that  with  the  ancient 
poets  the  highest  and  ruling  Power,  the  original  Being,  was 
not,  as  in  so  many  mythologies,  the  Night  or  Chaos,  or 
Heaven  or  Water,  but  Zeus.^ 

Saint  Paul  quotes  from  Aratus  what  is  said  of  Zeus  as 
if  spoken  of  the  Unknown  God.* 

"  Let  us  begin  with  Zeus,  whom  we  men  will  never  leave  un- 
named ;  and  all  streets  are  full  of  Zeus,  and  all  the  market-places, 
and  men  ;  and  the  sea  too  is  full,  and  the  ports ;  and  we  every- 
where stand  in  need  of  Zeus,  for  we  are  his  offspring  (roG  yap  koI 
•^ivo^  icTfJLei'), 

No  grander  thought  ever  penetrated  the  Greek  im- 
agination than  this  of  the  great  Father  of  gods  and  men. 
Phidias  was  able  to  embody  this  lofty  conception  in  a 
statue  of  such  nobleness  and  sweetness,  such  majesty  and 
benignancy,  that  the  Greeks  felt  its  moral  power  as  they 
did  of  no  other  work  of  Greek  art.  Repeated  testimony 
shows  that  the  aspect  of  it  was  to  the  worshipper  like  a 
sudden  glimpse  of  ineffable  beauty,  and  of  majesty  beyond. 

1  Hesiod  :  Works  and  Days,  263.  2  Ibid.,  265. 

3  Metem. 

*  Phaenom.,  1-5  ;  Stobaeus  :  Eclogas  Physicce,  i.  7  ;  Acts  xvii. 


94  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

all  other  imagination  of  man.  Even  Christian  testimony 
confirmed  this.  Dio  Chrysostom  says  that  a  man  could 
forget  all  the  pangs  and  sorrows  of  human  life,  who  could 
stand  in  the  presence  of  that  sublime  image. 

Unfortunately  the  modern  world  has  only  a  few  im- 
perfect representations  of  it  on  ancient  coins.  The  face 
of  the  Olympian  Zeus  of  Phidias  bears  a  striking  resem- 
blance to  the  traditional  profiles  of  Christ.  The  later 
Greek  poets  and  dramatists  preserve  this  high  conception 
of  Zeus,  and  often  regard  this  name  as  only  a  means  of 
indicating  the  unnamable  moral  power  and  Being  who  pre- 
sides over  all.  He  is  the  ^eo?  a-fvcoaro^  (Unknown  God). 
Says  Sophocles :  — 

"  Thy  power,  O  Zeus,  what  proud  ordinance  of  men  can  re- 
press, —  that  power  which  sleep  never  overtaketh,  nor  the  divine 
unwearying  progress  of  the  months?  Through  undying  time 
thou  dwellest  in  the  brightness  of  Olympus  ;  thy  laws  are  all- 
pervading ;  they  have  been,  and  shall  be  forever."^ 

Electra,  when  she  denies  herself  for  the  sake  of  her 
dead  father,  is  pictured  as  pious  toward  Zeus.^ 

"  O  Zeus  !  if  thou  art  rightly  named,  let  it  not  be  hidden  from 
thee  and  thy  everlasting  will,  that  men  are  disregarding  oracles, 
and  that  religion  is  passing  away."^ 

The    poet    appeals    to    Zeus    as    the    highest    power, 

whether  "  that  be  the  right  name  or  not."  ^ 

1  Antigone,  605  ;  Abbott's  translation. 

^  Electra,  1095  ;  Z^i/oy  evaf^fla. 

8  CEdipus  Tyrannus,  902.  ■»  Agamemnon,  160. 


ZEUS  AS  SPIRITUAL   COD.  95 

"  May  it  be  mine,  in  every  act  and  word  of  life,  to  preserve  the 
piety  and  purity  ordained  by  those  high  laws  of  which  Olympus  is 
the  only  sire,  whose  birth  was  in  the  sky  above,  and  nothing  human 
gave  them  being.  In  them  is  a  divine  power  which  groweth  not 
old."^ 

Here  the  heaven  and  the  sky  god,  or  Zeus,  are  iden- 
tical. CEdipus  appeals  to  the  pure  holiness  of  the  gods.^ 
They  are  beyond  the  reach  of  human  pollution.  Their 
vengeance  may  linger  or  come  quickly,  or  the  sins  of 
the  fathers  may  be  visited  on  the  children,  but  it  will 
surely  come.  The  gods  love  the  good,  and  will  punish 
the  evil.  No  one  is  wise  whose  wisdom  is  not  from 
above. 

In  /Eschylus,  Zeus  is  all-causing,  all-sufificing,  all-mighty, 
all-seeing,  all-accomplishing,  Lord  of  lords,  most  holy  of 
holies.^  "  In  thy  hands  is  the  balance;  what  can  mortals 
accomplish  without  thee?  What  without  Zeus  can  befall 
any  man?  Justice  is  the  child  of  Zeus.  He  leadeth 
mortals  to  wisdom,  in  that  he  ordained  that  to  suffer  is 
to  learn."  "^ 

"  And  from  high  towering  hopes  he  hurleth  down 
To  utter  doom  the  heir  of  mortal  birth ; 
Yet  sets  he  in  array 
No  forces  violent. 
All  that  God  works  is  effortless  and  calm,  ~^ 

1  CEdipus  Tyrannus,-863.  -  Ibid.,  830  ;  S  6iu>v  ayvhv  a-f^as- 

^  Suppliants,  524  ;   fiuKapuiv  p-aKaprare. 
*  Agamemnon,  175. 


96  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Seated  on  loftiest  throne, 
Thence,  though  we  know  not  how. 
He  works  his  perfect  will."  ^ 

"  Look  thou  on  him  who  looks  on  all  from  heaven, 
Guardian  of  suffering  men 
Who,  worn  with  toil,  unto  their  neighbors  come 
As  suppliants,  and  receive  not  justice  due. 
For  these  the  wrath  of  Zeus,  — 
Zeus,  the  true  suppliant's  god, 
Abides,  by  wail  of  sufferer  unappeased."  "^ 

"  Zeus  the  great  god  of  kindred  in  these  things 
Watches  over  both  of  us 
Holding  an  equal  scale,  and  fitly  giving 
To  the  base,  evil,  to  the  righteous,  blessing ; 
Why,  when  these  things  are  set 
In  even  balance,  fear'st  thou  to  do  right? "^ 

"  For  not  a  subject  hastening  at  the  beck 
Of  strength  above  his  own. 
Reigns  he  subordinate  to  mightier  powers ; 
Nor  does  he  pay  this  homage  from  below. 
While  one  sits  throned  in  majesty  above, 
Act  is  for  him  as  speech 
To  hasten  what  his  teeming  mind  resolves."  * 

*'  But  since  as  sharer  in  the  throne  of  Zeus  compassion  dwells. 
Regarding  all  our  deeds."  ^ 

"  If  still  there  dwells  beside  the  throne  of  Zeus 
The  eternal  right  that  rests  on  oldest  laws."  ® 

1  /Eschylus:  Suppliants,  90.  2  Ibid.,  375. 

8  Ibid.,  395.  *  Ibid.,  588. 

6  CEdipus  at  Colonus,  266.  «  Ibid.,  1381. 


ZEUS  AS  SPIRITUAL   GOD.  97 

The  poets  even  offer  the  comfort  of  a  future  life.  An- 
tigone, near  death,  says :  "  When  I  come  there,  such  is  the 
hope  I  cherish,  I  shall  find  love  with  my  father,  love  with 
my  mother,  and  love  with  thee  my  brother  !  "  ^  It  will  be 
a  life  far  longer  than  the  lower  life.  In  that  life  arc  no 
mistakes.     Justice  dvvelleth  with  the  gods  below.^ 

According  to  Sophocles,  the  laws  of  righteousness  are 
established  in  heaven,  and  in  them  God  is  great  and  can- 
not grow  old.  With  Euripides,  if  the  gods  do  aught  that 
is  wrong,  then  are  they  not  gods  at  all,"^     Says  yEschylus: 

"  There  [in  the  unseen],  as  men  relate,  a  second  Zeus 
Judges  men's  evil  deeds,  and  to  the  dead 
Assigns  the  last  great  penalties."* 

"  Though  'neath  the  earth  he  flee,  he  is  not  freed ; 
For  the  blood-stained  shall  find  upon  his  head 
Another  after  me. 
Destroyer  foul  and  dread."  * 

"  Zeus,  who  leadeth  man  in  wisdom's  way, 
And  fixeth  fast  the  law, 
Wisdom  by  pain  to  gain."  ^ 

In  the  Bacchse,  Euripides  says :  "  O  foolish  pride,  which 
pretends  to  be  wiser  than  the  sages  and  ancient  laws ! 
Ought  it  to   cost  our  feebleness  to  avow  the  force   of  a 

^  Antigone,  887.  '^  Ibid.,  451. 

ovK  fiVtf  ^601.  —  Frag.  Bell.,  xix.  589. 
*  Suppliants,  227.  6  Eumenides,  v.  118. 

'  Agamemnon,  v.  170. 

7 


98  THE    UNKNOWN  COD. 

Superior  Being,  whatever  be  its  nature,  and  to  recognize  a 
holy  law  anterior  to  all  time.''^  "Who  knows,"  asks  this 
poet,  "but  death  be  life  and  life  death?  "^  "  God,"  says 
Aristotle,  "  who  is  happy  and  blessed,  not  through  any 
external  from  himself,  but  himself  through  himself.^  One 
power,  that  which  reaches  through  all  things,  arranged  the 
entire  sea,  and  earth  and  ether,  and  sun  and  moon,  and  the 
whole  heaven,  .  .  .  compelling  the  most  obstinate  natures 
in  it  to  harmonize,  and  from  these  things  devising  safety  for 
the  whole.  .  .  .  These  things,  too,  we  ought  to  think  in  re- 
gard to  God,  who  in  might  is  most  strong,  in  beauty  most 
fair,  in  life  most  immortal,  in  virtue  most  excellent,  be- 
cause being  imperceptible  by  mortal  natures  he  is  per- 
ceived by  his  works  themselves."  * 

"  And  we  say  that  God  is  a  Being  everlasting  and  perfectly  good, 
so  that  life  and  duration,  continuous  and  endless,  belong  to  God  ; 
for  this  is  God."  ^  "  But  this  virtue  is  without  a  name,  because  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  the  virtue  of  God;  for  God  is  better  than 
virtue."  ® 

"  Zeus  was  the  first,  and  the  last  was  Zens,  with  bolt  of  which 
lightning  Zeus  was  the  head,  Zeus  the  middle  ;  from  Zeus  all  things 
are  created." '' 

"  A  kind  of  original  and  ancestral  belief,  then,  have  all  men, 
that  of  God  and  by  God  all  things  have  been  composed  for  us, 

1  Bacchs,  887.  -  Plato  :  Gorgias,  104  ;    To  Kar6av-\v  hi.  ^v. 

8  De  Rep.,  vii.  i.  ''  De  Mundo,  v.  6. 

8  De  Mundo,  p.  397. 

«  Mag.  Moral,  p.  1200.     Prof.  R.  M.  Smith's  translation. 

'  De  Mundo,  pp.  400,  401. 


ZEUS  AS  SPIRITUAL   COD.  99 

and  that  no  nature  alone  is  sufificient  in  itself,  if  deprived  of  the 
safety  that  comes  from  him."  ^ 

"  And  in  brief,  what  a  pilot  is  in  a  ship,  a  driver  in  a  chariot, 
a  leader  in  a  chorus,  law  in  a  State,  a  commander  in  a  camp,  this  is 
God  in  the  universe,  except  that  to  those  ruling  is  wearisome  and 
full  of  effort  and  full  of  care,  but  to  him  it  is  without  worry,  with- 
out toil,  and  free  from  all  bodily  weakness.  For,  seated  unmoved, 
he  moves  all  things,  and  turns  them  where  he  wills  and  as  he  wills, 
in  different  shapes  and  natures."  '^ 

The  religion  which  had  come  down  by  secret  channels 
to  the  Greeks,  or  which  sprang  from  their  intuitions, 
brought  with  it  its  own  stimulus  to  morality.  Euripides 
makes  the  just  man,  "  him  who  is  born  for  his  neigh- 
bors."^ 

The  Athenians  held  in  theoj^y  to  the  Golden  Rule.  Iso- 
cratcs  says:  "  Do  not  to  others  what  you  would  not  suffer 
from  them,  and  be  towards  others  what  you  would  wish 
I  should  be  towards  you."  ^  An  ancient  Greek  hero, 
Bonzyges,  is  made  by  Hesychius  to  say,  "  Do  to  oth- 
ers what  you  would  should  be  done  to  you."  ^  Euripides 
pictures  Macaria,  daughter  of  Hercules,  as  saying,  "  If  I 
saved  my  days  at  the  expense  of  those  of  my  brothers, 
should  I  be  the  happier?"^  A  certain  person  (Boas)  is 
represented  as  delivering  young  girls  from  slavery,  and 
sending  them  back  to  their  parents,  to  whom,  instead  of 
demanding  ransom,  he  sent  presents.     Religion  was   felt 

1  De  Mundo.  p.  397.  '^  Ibid.,  p.  400. 

^  Herac.  *  Oratio  ad  Nicoclem,  c.  61. 

'^  Alaury.  ^  Herac  v.  528. 


1/ 


lOO  THE    UNKNOWN  COD. 

to  be  the  foundation  of  the  highest  morahty.  "  What- 
ever good  you  do,  refer  it  to  the  gods,"  said  an  ancient 
writer.-^  There  is  a  morahty,  says  Menander,  founded  on 
the  nature  of  man,  independent  of  all  speculative  opinion, 
anterior  to  all  conviction ;  but  more,  there  are  in  virtuous 
souls  intellectual  faculties  which  one  calls  reason,  —  a 
reflection  of  the  divine  nature  of  God  himself.^ 

It  was  often  repeated  that  God  was  the  soul  of  the 
good.  Simonides  had  said,  "  God  alone  is  good,  and  it 
is  impossible  for  a  man  not  to  be  a  sinner."  ^  "  Men 
loved  of  the  gods  are  the  most  virtuous."^  Even  Homer, 
with  all  his  lower  mythology,  pictures  the  blessed  gods 
as  "  loving  not  impious  actions,  but  they  honor  justice 
and  the  pious  works  of  men."^  "On  him  ruling  justly 
and  mildly  God  looketh  favorably,"  '^  says  the  great  tragic 
dramatist.  "  He  that  honoreth  his  parents  is  cherished 
by  the  gods  in  life  and  after  death."  ^ 

God  abaseth  the  proud  and  raiseth  the  humble;  and 
even  in  the  Pythian  games  the  victor  is  exhorted  to 
remember  that  God  is  the  author  of  his  glory.^  The 
state  of  mind  most  often  encouraged  by  poet  and  moral- 
ist is  humble  moderation  {crcocfipoa-vvT])  towards  gods  and 
men,    as    one    suited   to   a   being    exposed   to    so    many 


^  Diogenes  Laertius.  2  Quoted  by  Saint  Justin. 

8  Plato  :  Protagoras,  p.  84.  *  Ibid.,  p.  87. 

^  Odyssey,  xiv.  80.  ^  /Escliylus. 

'  Euripides:  Fragments,  p.  182.  ^  Pindar:  Pyth.,  v.  23. 


ZEUS  AS  SPIRITUAL   GOD.  1 01 

chances  and  perils,  and  dependent  on  the  upper  powers. 
Faith  is  frequently  taught.  "  Finish  your  sacrifice  to 
God,"  says  Menander,  "  with  faith,  being  just  and  adorned 
with  purity  of  soul  as  with  a  brilliant  garment.  If  you 
hear  the  thunder  do  not  fly,  since  your  conscience  makes 
you  no  reproach,  for  God  seeth  ^  you  and  holdeth  him- 
self near  you."  The  greatest  sacrifice  to  God  is  to  be 
pious.^  Isocrates  says :  "  Remain  inviolably  attached  to 
the  religion  of  your  fathers.  Remember  that  the  homage 
of  a  just  and  virtuous  soul  honors  the  immortals  more 
than  the  pomp  of  outward  worship  and  a  multitude  of 
victims.  It  is  by  justice,  rather  than  by  sacrifices,  that 
one  obtains  what  one  asks."  ^  "  Honor  first  the  immor- 
tals by  faithfulness  to  your  oaths  more  than  by  the 
multitude  of  victims."  ^ 

"  Worship  is  due  the  gods,"  says  Aristotle,  "  because 
they  are  the  source  of  the  greatest  benefits  we  have  re- 
ceived, and  we  owe  them  intelligence  as  well  as  lifc."^ 

"  Good  thoughts  are  the  greatest  gift  of  God,"  ^  says 
the  poet.  Pindar  declares  that  those  who  imagine  they 
can  conceal  any  of  their  actions  from  divinity  are 
mistakenJ 

1  6  yap  6((>s  iSXeVft  ere,  quoted  by  Eusebius  :  Prep.  Ev.,  xiii.  131. 

2  Menander. 

*  Isocrates  ad  Nicoclem,  c.  20.  *  Isocrates  ad  Dem  ,  p.  23. 

^  Ethics,  viii.   12. 

^  .  .   .  Tu  fjLij  KuKiou  (ppovflu  6(ov  pfyiarov  Sipov  (Agamemnon). 
'  Olymp. 


102 


THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 


Pythagoras  declares  the  best  thing  to  be  to  follow  God 
and  become  like  him.^  Aristotle  says:  "It  is  an  old 
word  of  our  fathers  that  from  God  and  through  God  all 
things  stand."  ^ 

The  idea  of  resignation,  under  God's  decree  is  every- 
where found,  and  the  deeper  thought  that  Zeus  sends 
trials  for  discipline.  The  gods  below  give  two  blessings 
for  one  evil.     What  Zeus  sendeth,  one  must  bear.^ 

On  Mount  Menale  was  a  temple  dedicated  to  the 
"Good  God."  Of  this  inscription  the  historian  says: 
"  If  to  the  gods  men  owe  all  the  goods  they  enjoy,  and  if 
Zeus  be  the  King  of  gods,  this  must  be  his  surname."  * 

Prayer.  — \\\  a  later  age,  the  great  Roman  moralist 
could  say  of  prayers  that  all  men  are  agreed  to  look 
upon  crops  and  fields  and  all  kinds  of  material  goods  as 
blessings  of  the  gods;  but  none  considers  virtue  as  a 
gift  of  God.  "  Jupiter  is  called  the  Best  and  Greatest, 
not  because  he  has  made  us  just,  temperate,  and  wise, 
but  because  he  has  made  us  healthy  and  well-supplied, 
and  enriches  us  with  all  earthly  blessings."  ^  But  in  the 
earlier  ages  men  had  a  higher  faith.  Homer  and  Py- 
thagoras held  wisdom  and  virtue  as  gifts  of  the  gods, 
and  "to  be  obtained  by  their  help ;  and  so  with  Pindar  and 
others.     Socrates  asked  God  for  inner  moral   purity  and 

1  Olymp.,  i.  491.  *  De  Mundo,  p.  6;  Trdrpios  Xoyoy. 

8  Odyssey,  vi.  189.  *  Pausanias,  viii.  36. 

5  Natura  Deorum,  iii.  36. 


ZEUS  AS  SPIRITUAL   GOD.  1 03 

beauty,  "  One  ought  not  to  wish  for  children,"  he  says, 
"  in  one's  prayers,  nor  riches,  nor  power,  nor  long  life. 
One  must  simply  ask  for  wisdom  and  what  is  good  for 
us  ;  once  we  are  penetrated  with  these  sentiments,  noth- 
ing more  salutary  and  purifying  to  our  feebleness  than 
to  invoke  God  in  all  important  interests  of  our  life,  and 
at  the  beginning  of  all  our  labors."  Sacrifices  were 
generally  offered  for  material  goods. 

An  ancient  Greek  writer  defines  prayer  as  "  a  fortify- 
ing process  with  God ;  a  testimony  that  the  soul  renders 
of  its  virtue  in  thanking  him  who  has  inspired  us  with  it; 
an  encouragement  which  virtue  gives  itself  in  asking  of 
God  goods  which  by  his  favor  it  finds  and  draws  into 
itself."  1 

The  conception  of  Zeus,  expressed  by  these  writers, 
was,  as  the  Apostle  Paul  clearly  saw,  an  idea  of  the 
Unknown  God.  It  was  mingled  with  a  childish  my- 
thology, and  obscured  by  low  and  sensual  ideas  and 
imaginations ;  but  in  some  points  it  reflected  back  the 
divine  inspiration. 

Jove   as  Spiritual  God. 

A   like    inspiration    in    regard    to    the    Unknown    God 

visited    also    the    Latin    race,    though    with    them    it   w^as 

more   quickly   overcome   by   polytheistic   beliefs    and   the 

influences  of  the  myth-making  fancy.     There  was  an  age 

1  Denis  :   Histoire  des  icl(?es  morales,  p.  247. 


104  ^-^^    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

when  the  God  of  the  Latins  was  worshipped  as  Jupiter, 
the  "Best  and  Greatest"  {pptimns  maxinmsque)  of  be- 
ings, —  the  Father  of  gods  and  men,  the  all-powerful, 
the  King  of  all  kings,  the  progenitor  and  producer  of  all, 
the  God  of  gods,  the  One  and  all/^  The  poets  make  him 
address  other  gods  as  his  limbs,  appointed  by  him  to 
certain  functions.^ 

Varro  speaks  of  a  "Spirit  governing  the  universe"^ 
by  his  own  action  and  reason.  Ennius  says,  "  Look 
at  that  sublime  vault  of  heaven  which  all  call  Jove  !  "  * 
—  in  this  making  manifest  that  to  some  the  highest  god 
was  still  the  Heaven.  But  from  the  Heaven-god  came 
life  and  all  things.  The  other  gods  were  explained 
by  Varro  as  only  personifications  of  the  forces  of 
Nature. 

The  ancient  inscriptions^  show  that  Jupiter  was  re- 
garded as  the  Highest  and  Most  Excellent  Being,  the 
Ruler  of  divine  and  human  things,  the  arbiter  of  the 
fates,  the  God  of  gods,  "  who  art  alone  powerful."  One 
temple  showed  the  moral  idea  attached  to  divinity  by  its 

1  Omnipotens,  rerum  rex  ipse  Deusque,  Progenitor,  genetrixque, 
Deorum  Deus,  Unus  et  omnes  (Ouintus  Valerius.  Aug.  :  Civ.  Dei, 
vii.  9). 

2  Coelicolce  mea  membra,  dei  quos  nostra  potestas  officia  divisa 
facit. 

8  Anima  mundum  gubernans. 

*  Aspice  hoc  sublime  candens  quern  invocant  omnes  Jovem. 
5  3  Orelli,  1267.     Jovi  summo,  excellentissimo  ;  divinarum,  huma- 
narum  rerum  rectori,  fatorum  arbitro,  Deo  deorum  qui  solus  potes  ! 


ZEUS  AS  SPIRITUAL   GOD.  105 

inscription,  "Enter  good!  go  forth  better !"  ^  In  a  later 
age  Pliny  says  that  frail  mortality,  mindful  of  its  weak- 
ness and  sufferings,  had  divided  up  the  original  godhead 
into  parts,  so  that  each  human  being  might  have  what 
he  most  needed.^ 

Saint  Augustine  quotes  a  letter  from  a  heathen  of  his 
day,  who  says :  "  Under  different  names  we  adore  the 
only  Divinity  whose  eternal  power  animates  all  the  ele- 
ments of  the  world."  ^ 

This  spiritual  worship  of  a  grand  deity  —  Jove,  the 
Best  and  Greatest  —  degenerated,  however,  into  fear 
and  superstition  towards  innumerable  spirits  and  gods, 
until  the  Unknown  God  of  the  universe  was  almost  for- 
gotten, and  religion  was  nearly  severed  from  morality. 
Its  final  degradation  seems  indicated  in  an  ancient  in- 
scription of  praise  on  the  tomb  of  a  priest,  —  "He  gave 
to  his  disciples  kisses,  pleasures,  and  fun."* 

When  this  and  others  similar  could  be  written  over  the 
grave  of  the  servant  of  a  god,  the  empire  was  near  its 
final  moral  dissolution.  The  stern  and  august  worship  of 
Zeus  and  Jupiter  had   come  to  a  pitiful  end. 

1  Bonus  intra,  melior  exi  !  (Renier:  Inscription  de  I'Algdrie,  No. 
1657). 

2  Quest.  Nat.,  ii.  7.     Frasjilis  et  laboriosa  mortalitas. 

3  Augustine  :   Epistles,  p.  16. 

^  Orelli,  No.  6042.     Basia,  voluptates,  jocum  alumnis  suis  dedit. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   RELIGION   OF   SOCRATES   AND   PLATO. 

//  is  the  clear  vie'w  of  truth,  the  possession  of  eter7tal  beauty,  the  contempla- 
tion of  absolute  good,  -which  makes  up  the  life  of  the  just  and  happy.  —  Plato. 

'T~^HE  idea  of  the  Unknown  God  had  thus  descended 
through  Greek  tradition  from  ancient  Egyptian 
and  Chaldean  sources.  The  Orphic  hymns  had  voiced 
it  almost  in  the  words  of  the  old  Egyptian  oracles.  The 
Mysteries  had  expressed  it,  and  had  perhaps  added  to  it 
the  Egyptian  dogmas  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  of 
a  future  moral  judgment,  and  of  the  retribution  which 
comes  in  the  changing  abode  of  the  soul  through  ages 
in  animals  or  men. 

But  there  was  little  belief  among  the  Greeks  in  the  love 
of  this  mysterious  unknown  Being  for  men,  or  the  senti- 
ment of  love  for  him.  A  stern  and  pitiless  destiny  gov- 
erned gods  and  men.  Zeus,  as  well  as  his  creatures,  was 
under  an  implacable  fate.  Love  was  not  the  key  of  the 
universe,  but  justice;  and  man  only  owed  to  his  neigh- 
bor the  obligations  of  justice.  Univ^ersal  sympathy  was 
almost  unknown.  Under  such  religious  conceptions  the 
future  life  became  vague  and  shadowy.     In  the  oft-quoted 


THE   RELIGION  OE  SOCRATES  AND   PLATO.      107 

words  of  tlic  poet,  one  would  rather  be  a  poor  hind  in 
the  abodes  of  men  than  a  kuig  in  the  dim  reahiis  of 
Hades.  Mythology  took  possession  of  religion  and  de- 
graded it  to  the  lowest  depths.  The  fancies  about  the 
gods  lowered  the  moral  ideas  of  daily  life,  and  gradually 
the  practical  world  lost  hold  of  any  faith  which  could 
purify  passion,  soften  human  selfishness,  console  sorrow 
or  mitigate  cruelty,  or  lighten  up  the  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death. 

But  the  Divine  Spirit  ever  struggles  with  the  soul ;  and 
down  through  the  channels  of  human  belief  had  come 
to  certain  great  thinkers  of  Greece  the  ancient  inspira- 
tions, and  these  falling  on  good  ground  had  borne  fruit 
among  the  best  and  purest  souls  known  outside  of 
Christianity. 

In  briefly  considering  the  faith  of  Socrates  and  Plato, 
we  need  not  for  the  present  purpose  seek  to  distinguish 
the  beliefs  of  each.  It  is  not  improbable  that  Plato  made 
Socrates  the  mouthpiece  of  many  of  his  own  ideas  and 
theories  ;  but  there  is  enough  verisimilitude  in  the  pic- 
ture of  the  rugged  moralist  to  get  from  it  a  true  impres- 
sion of  the  points  of  agreement  and  difference  between 
the  statements  of  the  cunning  dialectician  and  the  poetic 
expounding  of  the  ideal  philosopher. 

Socrates,  it  is  evident,  took  a  more  intellectual  view 
of  religion  than  did  his  great  disciple.  With  him  virtue 
and   knowledge   were    often   the   same.      Yet   knowledge 


I08  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

here  may  often  mean  "  seeing  the  truth,"  as  distin- 
guished from  self-deceptions,  and  guiding  the  hfe  by  these 
realities  instead  of  following  sentiment  and  passion  and 
self-interest.  In  the  definition  of  the  "philosopher"  by 
Socrates,  the  modern  reader  could  easily  substitute  "  re- 
ligion "  for  "philosophy,"   as  in  the  following:  — 

"  It  is  not  generally  recollected  as  it  ought  to  be  that  those  who 
truly  apply  themselves  to  philosophy  [religion],  are  really  studying 
how  to  die,  and  how  to  be  ready  for  the  state  after  death  ;  but  if 
this  is  really  so,  it  is  a  most  absurd  proceeding,  that  men  who  have 
been  all  their  lives  studying  this  thing,  when  the  thing  comes 
that  they  have  looked  for  and  studied  for,  should  be  startled  and 
grieved."  ^ 

Plato,  on  the  other  hand,  took  a  broader  view  of  virtue 
and  religion.  He  made  allowance  for  the  power  of  habit 
and  tradition  as  well  as  for  knowledge  and  reasoning,  and 
to  him  religion  was  life,  an  influence  imbuing  the  whole 
character  and  governing  both  thoughts  and  actions.  It 
was  not  so  much  knowledge  as  inspiration  ;  it  was  a  moral 
life  coming  from  God  himself. 

The  position  of  both  these  great  thinkers  in  regard  to 
Grecian  mythology  was  peculiar.  It  was  not  unlike  that 
of  some  rationalistic  scholars  at  this  day  towards  mira- 
cles and  the  supernaturalism  of  Christianity.  The  ancient 
myths  seemed  to  them  to  cover  and  express  great  moral 
and  spiritual  truths.  They  were  old  and  revered  poetic 
revelations  of  the  great  facts  of  religion.  The  essential 
^  Phsedo,  p.  21. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  SOCRATES  AND  PLATO.      109 

in  them  was  eternally  true,  the  form  was  imaginary  and 
temporary  ;  yet  these  philosophers  would  not  rudely 
overthrow  even  the  form.  It  was  ancient  and  therefore 
reverend ;  it  was  intertwined  with  morality  and  order  and 
devoutness,  and  therefore  should  be  carefully  handled  by 
the  thinker.  Moreover,  these  myths  belonged  to  a  realm 
where  nothing  was  certain,  and  where  strange  combina- 
tions and  stranger  beings  might  coexist.  The  gods 
might  be  demons  or  spirits  or  unknown  powers  beneath 
the  Omnipotent.  They  were  existences  about  whom  the 
wise  would  neither  affirm  nor  deny.  So  the  two  philoso- 
phers recognized  the  popular  mythology,  and  used  it  for 
these  great  moral  purposes,  only  half  believing  it,  and 
extracting  from  it  the  truths  which  are  everlasting.  Of 
one  thing,  however,  they  were  certain.  Whenever  the 
myths  represented  the  gods  as  acting  contrary  to  the 
eternal  principles  of  morality,  then  they  did  not  hesitate 
to  say  they  were  false. 

"And  do  you  really  believe,"  asks  Socrates,  "that  the  gods 
fought  with  one  another,  and  had  dire  battles  and  quarrels  and 
the  like,  as  the  poets  say,  and  which  we  see  represented  in  the 
works  of  great  artists  ?  The  temples  to  the  gods  are  full  of  them. 
.  .  .  Are  all  these  tales  of  the  gods  true  ?  "  ^ 

"  Neither,"  says  Plato,  "  if  we  mean  our  future  guardians  to 
regard  the  habit  of  quarrelling  as  dishonorable,  should  anything  be 
said  of  the  wars  in  heaven  and  of  the  plots  and  fightings  of  the 
gods  against  one  another,  which  are  quite  untrue."  ^ 

1  Euthyp.,  vi.  '^  Republic,  ii.  378. 


no  THE   UNKNOWN  COD. 

"  At  Athens  there  are  tales  preserved  in  writing  which  the  virtue 
of  your  State,  as  I  am  informed,  refuses  to  admit.  They  speak  of 
the  gods  in  prose  as  well  as  verse,  and  the  oldest  of  them  tell  of 
the  origin  of  the  heavens  and  the  world  ;  and  not  far  from  the 
beginning  of  their  story  they  proceed  to  narrate  the  birth  of  the 
gods,  and  how  often  they  were  born,  and  how  they  behaved  to  one 
another.  Whether  these  stories  have  a  good  or  bad  influence  I 
should  not  like  to  be  severe  on  them,  because  they  are  ancient ;  but 
1  must  say  that  looking  at  them  with  reference  to  duties  of  children 
to  their  parents,  I  cannot  praise  them,  or  think  that  they  are  useful 
or  at  all  true."  ^ 

"  For  if,  my  sweet  Adeimantus,  youth  seriously  believe  in  such 
misrepresentations  of  the  gods,  instead  of  laughing  at  them  as  they 
ought,  hardly  will  any  of  them  remember  that  he  himself  being 
but  a  man  can  be  dishonored  by  similar  actions  ;  neither  will  he 
rebuke  any  inclination  which  may  arise  in  his  mind  to  say  and  do 
the  like."  ^ 

It  must  be  remembered  also  that  Plato  himself  is  not  a 
dialectician  or  a  systematic  theologian.  He  is  essentially 
a  poet.  We  cannot  tell  always  precisely  what  he  means  ; 
and  in  a  field  of  thought  so  remote  and  so  difficult  as 
that  in  which  he  labors,  he  seems  often  to  attain  higher 
and  perhaps  more  real  glimpses  of  truth  than  more 
systematic  thinkers  since. 

Thus  the  Divine  Being  is  to  him  the  centre  of  all 
things,  and  a  Person,  and  yet  at  times  he  is  impersonal, 
the  equivalent  of  Truth  or  Beauty  or  the  Good ;  and 
again  he  often  uses  interchangeably  the  words  "  gods " 
and  "  God."  It  would  seem,  so  grand  is  his  conception 
1  Laws,  X.  886.  ^  Republic,  iii.  888. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  SOCRATES  AND  PLATO.       Ill 

of  this  unnamable  and  awful  Power,  that  he  expresses 
it  in  almost  opposite  terms  of  human  thought.  Plato 
is  not  a  pantheist,  but  he  once  speaks  of  Zeus  as  the 
"Mind    of  the    Universe."^ 

God  to  him  is  omnipotent,  but  He  is.  controlled  by  the 
nature  of  matter  and  of  the  human  will. 

"Then  God  is  perfectly  simple  and  true  both  in  deed  and 
word ;  he  changeth  not ;  he  deceiveth  not,  either  by  dream  or 
waking  vision,  by  sign  or  word."  ^  "  Few  are  the  goods  of  human 
life,  and  many  are  the  evils,  and  the  good  is  to  be  attributed  to 
God  alone ;  of  the  evils,  the  cause  is  to  be  sought  elsewhere,  not 
in  him."  ^     '*  God  is  not  the  author  of  evil,  but  of  good  only."  "* 

"  All  things  are  from  God,  and  not  from  some  spontaneous  and 
unintelligent  Cause."  ^  "  Now  that  which  is  created  must  of  ne- 
cessity be  created  by  a  Cause.  But  how  can  we  find  out  the 
Father  and  Maker  of  all  this  universe  ?  ...  If  the  world  be  indeed 
fair  and  the  artificer  good,  then,  as  is  plain,  he  must  have  looked 
to  that  which  is  external,  ...  for  the  world  is  the  fairest  of  crea- 
tures, and  he  is  the  best  of  causes."  ®  "  Let  us  begin  then  by  asking 
whether  all  this  which  they  call  the  universe  is  left  to  the  guidance 
of  an  irrational  and  random  chance,  or,  on  the  contrary,  as  our 
fathers  declared,  is  ordered  and  governed  by  a  marvellous  intelli- 
gence and  wisdom."  "^ 

1  There  is  in  the  universe  a  mighty  Infinite  and  an  adequate 
limit,  as  well  as  a  Cause  of  no  mean  power,  which  orders  and  arranges 
years  and  seasons  and  months,  and  may  be  justly  called  Wisdom  and 
Mind.  And  in  the  divine  nature  of  Zeus  would  you  not  say  there  is 
the  soul  and  mind  of  a  king,  and  that  the  power  of  the  Cause  en- 
genders this  ?  (Phil.  30.) 

2  Republic,  ii.  3S2.  »  Ibid.,  379.  "  Ibid  ,  380. 

5  Sophistes,  765.  ^  Timceus,  28. 

'  Philebus,  78. 


112  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Cod  cares  for  all. 

"  For  surely  no  wise  man  thinks  that  when  set  at  liberty  he  can 
take  better  care  of  himself  than  the  gods  take  of  him."  ^  "  The 
gods  care  about  the  small  as  well  as  the  great ;  •  .  .  they  are  per- 
fectly good,  and  the  care  of  all  things  is  most  entirely  natural 
to  them."  '^ 

He  is  just  and  righteous. 

"The  good  man  finds  in  the  Eternal  God  the  model  of  that 
which  he  seeks,  and  he  who  would  be  happy  and  just  ought  to 
attach  himself  to  him  and  force  himself  to  imitate  him."  ^  "  God 
is  perfectly  just,  and  nothing  among  men  more  resembles  him  than 
he  who  has  arrived  at  the  highest  degree  of  justice."*  "Knowl- 
edge of  God  is  true  wisdom  and  virtue,  and  ignorance  of  him  is 
utter  ignorance  ®  and  wickedness." 

"  God,  as  the  old  tradition  declares,  holding  in  his  hand  the 
beginning,  middle,  and  end  of  all  that  is,  moves  according  to  his 
nature  in  a  straight  line  towards  the  accomplishment  of  his  end. 
Justice  always  follows  hirn,  and  is  the  punisher  of  them  who  fall 
short  of  the  divine  law."  ^ 

He  is  truth. 

"  Can  you  imagine  that  God  will  be  willing  to  be  or  to  make  a 
false  representation  of  himself,  whether  in  word  or  deed  ?  "  ^ 

Of  Him,  according  to  Xenophon,  Socrates  says:  — 

"  All  divinities  bestow  blessings  upon  us  without  being  visible. 
But  the  Supreme  God,  he  who  directs  and  sustains  all  the  uni- 

^  Phaedrus,  62.  See  also  Timseus,  30,  44;  Sophistes,  265;  Phile- 
bus,  28  ;  Laws,  x.  709-899  ;  Republic,  x.  612,  etc. 

2  Laws,  X.  900.  3  Pliaedrus,  64. 

«  Thaetetus.  81,  176.  6  Ibid  ,  85  ;  aixaQla. 

«  Laws,  xiv.  716.  '  Republic,  ii.  382. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  SOCRATES  AND   PLATO.      1 13 

verse,  he  in  whom  reunite  all  good,  all  beauty,  who  for  ouF  use 
maintains  it  all  entire  in  a  vigor  and  youth  always  new,  who  forces 
it  to  obey  his  orders  quicker  than  thought,  and  without  ever  dis- 
tracting himself,  —  this  God  is  visibly  occupied  with  great  things, 
but  we  do  not  see  him  govern."  ^ 

"  Socrates,"  says  the  same  author,  "  engaged  his  disciples  to  do 
nothing  impious,  shameful,  criminal,  not  only  in  presence  of  men, 
but  in  view  of  the  gods,  from  whose  regards  one  could  not 
escape."" 

Of  the  just  man,  Plato  adds :  — 

"  We  must  then  believe  of  the  just  man,  that  whether  he  be 
assailed  by  poverty,  or  by  sickness,  or  by  any  other  seeming  evil,  it 
will  all  in  the  end  turn  out  for  good,  either  during  his  life  or  after 
his  death.  For  he  cannot  be  deserted  by  the  gods  who  has  ear- 
nestly striven  to  be  a  just  man,  and  who  by  the  cultivation  of  virtue 
has  endeavored  to  become  like  God  so  far  as  man  can."  ^ 

"  God  is  the  measure  of  all  things  in  a  sense  far  higher  than 
any  man,  as  they  say,  can  ever  hope  to  be  ;  and  he  who  would 
be  dear  to  God,  must  as  far  as  possible  be  like  him,  and  such  as 
he  is.""* 

"  And  this  is  the  conclusion,  which  is  also  the  noblest  and  truest 
of  all  sayings,  that  for  the  good  man  to  offer  sacrifice  to  the  gods, 
and  hold  converse  with  them  by  means  of  prayers  and  offerings 
and  every  kind  of  service,  is  the  noblest  and  best  of  all  things,  and 
also  the  most  conducive  to  a  happy  life."  ^ 

The  future  life,  with  both  thinkers,  enters  into  all  their 
beliei's. 

"  And  whenever,"  says  Plato,  "  the  soul  receives  more  of  good 
and  evil  from  her  own  energy  and  the  strong  influence  of  others,  — 
when  she  has  communion  with  the   Divine,  she  is  carried   into 

1  Xenoplion  :    Memorabilia,  i.x.  3.  -  Ibid.,  i.  4. 

3  Republic,  x.  612.  *  Laws,  iv.  716.  ^  Ibid. 


114  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

another  and  better  place,  which  is  also  divine  and  perfect  in  holi- 
ness;  and  when  she  has  communion  with  evil,  then  she  also 
changes  the  place  of  her  life  (for  that  is  the  justice  of  the  gods  who 
inhabit  heaven)."  ^  "  O  youth  or  young  man  who  fancy  that  you  are 
neglected  by  the  gods,  know  that  if  you  become  worse,  you  shall 
go  to  the  worse  souls,  or  if  better  to  the  better,  and  in  every  suc- 
cession of  life  and  death  you  will  do  and  suffer  what  like  may  fitly 
suffer  at  the  hands  of  like. 

"  This  is  a  divine  justice,  which  neither  you  nor  any  other  unfor- 
tunate will  ever  glory  in  escaping,  and  which  the  ordaining  powers 
have  especially  ordained.  Take  good  heed  of  them,  for  a  day  will 
come  when  they  will  take  heed  of  you.  If  you  say  I  am  small  and 
will  creep  into  the  depths  of  the  earth,  or  I  am  high  and  will  fly 
up  to  heaven,  you  are  not  so  small  or  so  high  but  that  you  shall 
pay  the  fitting  penalty,  either  in  the  world  below  or  yet  in  some 
more  savage  place  still,  whither  you  shall  be  conveyed."  ^ 

Etertial  Beauty.  —  "  But  what  if  man  had  eyes  to  see  the  true 
beauty  (the  Divine  Beauty,  I  mean,  pure  and  clear  and  unalloyed, 
not  clogged  with  the  pollutions  of  mortality  and  all  the  colors  and 
vanides  of  human  life),  thither  looking  and  holding  converse  with 
the  true  beauty,  divine  and  simple  !  Do  you  not  see  that  in  that 
communion,  only  beholding  beauty  with  the  eye  of  the  mind,  he 
will  be  enabled  to  bring  forth,  not  images  of  beauty,  but  realities 
(for  he  has  hold,  not  of  an  image  but  of  a  reality),  and  bringing 
forth  and  nourishing  true  virtue  to  become  a  friend  of  God  and  be 
immortal,  if  a  mortal  man  may?"^ 

"  It  is  the  clear  view  of  truth,  it  is  the  possession  of  eternal 
beauty,  it  is  the  contemplation  of  absolute  good  which  make  up 
the  life  of  the  just  and  happy." 

Immortality.  —  "  If  the  soul  be  immortal,  then  does  she  stand 
in  need  of  care,  not  only  during  this  period  which  we  call  life,  but 
for  all  time  ;  and  we  may  well  consider  that  there  is  terrible  danger 

1  Odyss.,  xix.  43.  2  Laws,  x.  904.     Jowett's  trans. 

3  Symposium,  212. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  SOCRATES  AND  PLATO.      II5 

in  neglecting  her.  If  death  indeed  were  an  escape  from  all 
things,  then  were  it  a  great  gain  for  the  wicked,  for  it  would  be 
a  release  from  the  body,  and  from  their  own  sin,  and  from  the 
soul  at  the  same  time ;  but  now  as  the  soul  pioves  to  be  immortal, 
there  is  no  other  escape  from  evils  to  come,  nor  any  other  safety, 
but  in  her  attaining  to  the  highest  virtue  and  wisdom ;  for  she  goes 
to  the  world  below  possessed  of  nothing  but  whatever  training  or 
education  she  may  have  received,  and  this  we  are  told  becomes 
either  the  greatest  help  or  the  greatest  hindrance  to  the  dead  at 
the  very  first  instant  of  his  journey  thither."  ^ 

"  And  when  she,  the  soul,  has  entered  into  the  company  of 
other  souls,  if  she  be  found  impure,  or  to  have  done  impure  deeds, 
whether  stained  with  wanton  murders,  or  with  other  crimes  akin 
to  these,  which  are  the  works  of  kindred  souls,  then  do  the  other 
souls  flee  from  her  and  avoid  her,  nor  will  any  consent  to  be  her 
companion  or  her  guide  ;  .  .  .  but  the  soul  which  has  gone  through 
life  reasonably  and  purely,  with  the  gods  as  companions  and  guides, 
comes  to  dwell  in  her  fitting  abode."  - 

"  That  man  should  be  of  good  courage  in  regard  to  his  soul, 
who  in  his  lifetime  has  bidden  farewell  to  all  the  pleasures  and 
ornaments  of  the  body  as  foreign  to  and  likely  rather  to  work  evil 
against  him,  and  who,  having  striven  after  knowledge,  and  adorned 
his  soul  with  no  foreign  ornaments,  but  with  those  which  alone 
befit  her,  —  moderation  and  justice,  and  freedom  and  truth,  —  thus 
awaits  his  journey  to  the  world  below."  ^ 

"  Well,  then,  the  soul  so  prepared  departs  into  that  invisible 
region  which  is  of  its  own  nature,  —  the  region  of  the  Divine,  the 
Immortal,  the  Wise  ;  and  then  its  lot  is  to  be  happy  in  a  state  in 
which  it  is  freed  from  fears  and  wild  desires,  and  the  other  evils  of 
humanity,  and  spends  the  rest  of  its  existence  with  the  gods,  as 
those  are  taught  to  expect  who  are  initiated  in  the  Mysteries."  ^ 

1  Ph;rdo,  107.      Miss  Mason's  translation.  -  Ibid.,  108. 

3  Ibid.,  114.  "  Ibid.,  68. 


Il6  THE    UXKXOWN  GOD. 

Socrates'  last  words  best  show  his  faith:  — 

"  You,  too,  O  judges,  it  behooves  to  be  of  good  hope  about 
death,  and  to  believe  that  this  at  least  is  true,  —  that  there  can  no 
evil  befall  a  good  man,  whether  he  be  alive  or  dead,  nor  are  his 
affairs  uncared  for  by  the  gods."  ^ 

The  two  great  Greek  thinkers,  in  their  religious  phi- 
losophy, struck  on  a  conception  of  the  universe  which  no 
Egyptian  or  Oriental  philosophers  (so  far  as  we  know)  had 
ever  grasped,  and  which  rests  on  the  same  basis  with  the 
philosophy  of  the  Christian.  They  found  that  the^  moral 
universe  in  its  inner  structure  rests  on  the  foundations  of 
sympathy,  love,  justice,  and  truth.  Or,  in  other  words, 
that  the  nature  of  man  is  so  constituted  that  his  highest 
health  and  happiness  are  only  to  be  reached  in  unselfish- 
ness and  truth  and  justice.  Whatever  appearances  may 
show,  that  man  can  alone  be  happy  and  sound  who  is  true 
and  good.  He  may  be  a  rich  and  successful  t\Tant,  or 
the  great  -king  himself;  but  if  he  is  false  and  unjust  and 
selfish,  his  soul  is  covered  with  wounds  and  sores  and 
scars,  and  there  is  no  health  or  happiness  in  him.  The 
wicked  man  cannot  by  any  possibility  ever  be  truly  happy 
or  successful.  The  nature  of  man  is  made  for  goodness. 
But  as  human  life  is  not  constituted  to  show  this  true  state 
of  things,  the  future  life  reveals  the  soul  as  it  is,  without 
regard  to  circumstances  or  condition;   and  punishment,  or 

1  Apology,  41. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  SOCRATES  AND  PLATO.      W] 

probation,  begins  there  the  true  recovery  to  health  and  a 
restoration  to  soundness. 

From  these  premises  Socrates  is  represented  as  draw- 
ing these  foundation-principles,  which  equally  belong  to 
Christianity:  (i)  That  it  is  better  (or  happier)  to  suffer 
wrong  than  to  do  wrong ;  (2)  That  it  is  better  for  the 
wrong-doer  to  suffer  punishment  than  to  escape  punish- 
ment; (3)  That  it  is  better  to  be  than  to  seem,  and  all 
false  seemings  are  to  be  shunned. ^ 

From  this  structure  of  the  moral  universe  Plato  infers 
that  its  Maker  is  of  like  nature ;  that  he  is  the  ideal  of 
love  and  justice,  of  sympathy  and  purity  and  truth  ;  that 
his  happiness  is  also  in  beneficence  and  in  truth.  I\Ian  is 
made  to  be  like  him,  and  by  loving  eternal  beauty  in  God 
to  become  as  he  is.  He  holds,  as  we  have  seen,  that 
nothing  can  turn  out  evil  to  him  that  loves  God.  Death 
will  only  bring  the  soul  nearer  to  its  Creator.  And  as 
this  world  does  not  in  its  affairs  and  issues  fully  realize 
this  plan  and  idea,  the  Divine  Behig  has  constituted  pun- 
ishments, purifications,  and  transmigrations  to  restore  the 
health  of  the  soul,  or  to  satisfy  justice.  Man  in  this 
life  may  be  led  towards  health  and  soundness  by  pain 
and  penalty;  but  his  highest  recovery  is  brought  about 
by  union  and  likeness  to  the  Divine  Original. 

The  great  Creator  being  such  must  be  happy  in  mak- 
ing his  creatures  happier  and  better;  and  hence  the  great 
^  Gor<rias. 


Il8  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

hope  of  immortality,  the  bcUuvi  souinium  (beautiful 
dream),  as  Seneca  called  it,  but  the  assured  conviction 
of  Socrates  and  Plato,  —  a  faith  so  firm  in  the  former 
that  his  last  words  (often  misunderstood)  called  upon  his 
friend  to  offer  a  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  to  the  God  of 
health  and  resurrection,  as  if  to  show  that  to  him  death 
was  life,  sickness  health,  and  burial  of  the  body  a  new 
arising  to  a  higher  vigor  and  fresh  youth. 

We  review  again  the  main  points  of  the  great  argu- 
ment. These  philosophers  no  doubt  reasoned,  as  did 
their  disciples  among  the  Stoics  after  them,  that  such  a 
structure  of  the  universe,  wherein  true  happiness  and 
moral  health  is  always  conditioned  on  goodness  and  truth 
and  unselfish  love,  cannot  be  an  effect  of  chance;  for 
chance  might  equally  well  bring  about  selfishness  and 
untruth  and  hate  as  the  successful  elements  of  human 
life.  The  facts  belong  to  the  foundation-structure  of  the 
human  soul.  It  is  made  for  purity  and  truth  and  benev- 
olence. Its  faculties  are  best  and  most  vigorous  when 
directed  by  these  moral  principles.  It  is  most  happy 
under  them.  "  Harmony  with  the  universe"  depends  on 
the  degree  according  to  which  the  mind  is  thus  guided. 
The  plain  and  irrefutable  inference  from  it  all  is  that  this 
constitution  of  things  is  a  result  of  intelligent  plan,  and 
that  the  Contriver  must  be  like  his  work  ;  he,  too,  must 
be  reasoning,  truthful,  benevolent,  and  just. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  SOCRATES  AND  PLATO.      II9 

The  exceptions  to  the  workings  of  this  plan  —  human 
sin  and  suffering  —  Plato  did  not  attempt  fully  to  explain. 
They  were  never  to  be  attributed  to  Zeus.  They  might 
arise  from  matter,  from  free  will ;  or  they  might  be  a 
means  to  ultimate  good.  The  philosophers  of  the  past, 
more  even  than  those  of  the  present,  felt  how  small  a 
segment  of  an  infinite  circle  they  beheld.  They  soon 
touched  the  "  threefold  darkness." 

Surely,  to  these  great  thinkers  the  Unknown  God  was 
revealed.  The  human  mind  cannot  in  some  directions 
reach  more  profound  views  of  truth.  Perhaps  from  our 
want  of  use  to  them,  these  pre-Christian  revelations  touch 
us  at  times  more  than  the  revelations  through  the  Apos- 
tles and  Christian  saints.  The  souls  of  these  great  seers 
seem  often  nearer  to  the  Unnamable,  the  Divine,  than 
do  those  who  have  lived  in  a  brighter  light.  They  saw 
through  the  mystery  of  the  universe,  and  on  occasions 
were  bathed  in  an  effulgence  which  came  not  from  earth, 
or  star,  or  any  lesser  light,  but  from  God  himself,  in 
contemplating  whom  they  were  changed  from  glory  to 
glory. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    FAITH   OF  THE   STOICS. 

dyov  5e  p.'  (S  Zed  Kal  cv  7'  t\  UeirpufievT], 
6iroi  iro6'  vfuu  eipX  diareray/JLevos, 
ws  eypopai  y  doKVOi'  f/v  5e  fj-'i]  OeXia 
KUKOS  yevbp.evo's,  ovdef  iJTTOv  eifofiai. 

Lead  t/ioii  me  on,  O  Zeus .' 

And  thou,  O  Destiny  ! 

Whithersoever  thou  ordainest 

Unjlinching  will  I  follow  ; 

But  if  from  wicked  heart 

I  unll  it  not. 

Still  must  I  follow  ! 

Cleanthes. 

'T^HESE   ancient  verses  were  for  some  eight  hundred 
years   the    chosen    expression    of  the    faith   of  the 
Stoics.^ 

The  devout  man  of  the  classic  ages,  tossing  on  the 
waves  of  hfe,  felt  himself  in  a  current  over  which  he  had 
little  control,  but  which  was  directed  by  a  Power  un- 
seen, eternal,  beneficent.  He  gazed  into  the  mystery  of 
the  universe  and  the  great  void  beyond  life,  and  help- 
less,  but  not  fearful,  he  trusted,   as  one  swept  on  by  an 

^  From  Cleanthes  (200  b.  c  )  to  Simplicius,  commentator  on  Epic- 
tetus  in  the  sixth  century. 


THE  FAITH  OF   THE  STOICS.  121 

invisible  force,  in  this  all-controlling  Tower  and  this 
infinite  Goodness.  "  Not  as  I  will,  but  as  Thou  wilt," 
was  his  prayer.  Not  for  what  is  usually  called  "happi- 
ness "  was  his  struggle,  —  for  to  him  "virtue  was  its  own 
reward,"  —  but  "  to  follow  Zeus,"  to  "  imitate  God,"  to 
do  what  he  had  ordered  him,  was  the  great  end  of 
existence.  His  faith,  like  that  of  Plato,  rested  on  the 
most  profound  moral  facts  of  life.  The  motto  of  his 
school  for  eight  centuries  was  "  to  live  in  harmony  with 
God  and  nature."^  And  by  "nature"  they  did  not  mean 
the  then  present  inherited  tendencies  of  the  human  soul, 
for  some  of  the  Stoics  have  said  that  we  all  tend  to  sin, 
and  all  are  stained  with  evil,  and  are  weakened  by  a  feeble 
will.^  But  they  meant  that  the  nature  of  man  is  made 
and  constituted  to  get  its  highest  happiness,  and  be  in 
the  most  perfect  health  and  soundness,  from  unselfishness, 
purity,  and  goodness.  It  is  more  miserable  to  injure 
than  to  be  injured.^  The  utmost  blessedness  is  to  imi- 
tate God  in  being  kind  to  the  unthankful  and  the  evil.* 
This  is  "  nature,"  or  the  constitution  of  the  "  universe." 
There  is   no   real   happiness  or  moral   health    in    selfish- 

1  o/xoXoyov/xei/cBf  ti]  cf)v(Tft  (ijv.  Secundum  rerum  naturam  vivere  et 
Deorum  exemplum  sequi  (Seneca:  Benef.). 

-  Natura  contumax  et  in  contrarium  nitens  (Seneca:  Clem.,  i.  24). 
Omnes  peccavimus,  etc. 

3  ...  Ex  illius  constitutione  miserius  est  nocere  quam  laedi 
(Seneca:  Ep  ,  xcv.).  Summum  Bonum  vir  habitur  optimae  mentis; 
sanitas  et  libertas  animi,  ipsa  pretium,  etc.  (Nat.  Quest.). 

*  Seneca:  Benef.,  iv.  25. 


122  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

ness  or  malice,  or  untruth,  or  lust,  or  passion.  The 
nature  of  man  and  the  universe  is  not  made  for  evil. 
He  is  unhappy,  crippled,  sick,  and  weak,  so  far  as  he  is 
under  sin.  No  matter  what  his  apparent  success  may  be, 
what  power,  or  place,  or  wealth  he  may  have,  if  he  is 
wicked  he  is  miserable. 

If  the  moral  world  is  so  constituted,  it  must  be  like 
its  Creator.  Zeus  must  be  Truth  and  Order  and  Justice 
and  Love  itself,  and  his  happiness  must  be  in  these. 
Human  virtue,  in  its  last  and  highest  expression,  must 
be  the  agreement  of  our  reason  with  the  Reason  govern- 
ing the  universe.!  Qne  cannot  find  any  other  principle 
of  justice  than  Zeus,  or  first  and  universal  Nature.^  One 
ought  not  to  say  with  Orpheus  that  Justice  sits  on  the 
right  hand  3  of  Zeus.  He  is  himself  Right  and  Justice. 
He  is  the  most  perfect  of  laws;  the  universal  law  is  the 
reason  of  Zeus,  who  is  Master  of  all,  and  from  whom 
come  all  harmony  and  order.  God  is  a  living  Being, 
eternal,  rational,  perfect,  and  intellectual  in  his  happi- 
ness, unsusceptible  to  any  kind  of  evil,  having  a  fore- 
knowledge of  the  world,  and  all  that  is  in  the  world.^ 
Zeus,  says  a  Stoic  authority,  is  the  Soul,  Mind,  and 
Reason  of  the  world ;  he  is  Law,  Destiny,  Providence,  — 
a  perfect,   happy,   all-knowing,  beneficent  Being.^     Zeus, 

1  Chrysostom.     Diogenes,  vii.  1,2.  ^  Chrysostom. 

3  Ibid.  ^  Diog.  Laert,  vii.  52. 

*  Stobaeus :   Floril.  ;  fxeyaXorppcav,  cpiXduOpconoi. 


THE  FAITH   OF  THE  STOICS.  1 23 

says  another  (Aratus),  quoted  by  Saint  Paul,  is  he  of 
whom  streets  and  markets,  sea  and  land,  are  full,  whose 
"  offspring  is  man,"  and  who  in  regard  to  man  has  ap- 
pointed signs  in  the  heaven  to  regulate  the  year. 

The  first  and  last  word  of  Stoicism  is  spiritual.  The 
poetic  mind  of  the  Stoics  felt  as  David  did  toward  Jahveh, 
—  that  the  highest  work  of  man  is  to  utter  in  fit  words 
the  praises  of  the  greatest  of  Beings.  Cleanthes  may  be 
said  to  have  opened  the  history  of  this  religion  (about 
200  B.  C.)  with  one  of  the  noblest  hymns  ever  uttered  by 

man. 

Cleanthes'  Hymn  to  Zeus.i 

Hail  to  thee,  most  glorious  of  immortals,  O  thou  of  many  names, 
Almighty  Zeus,  nature's  first  Cause,  governing  all  things  by  law. 
It  is  the  right  of  mortals  to  address  thee,  for  we  who  live  and  creep 
upon  the  earth  are  all  thy  children,  and  to  us  only  is  given  power  of 
speech  like  unto  thine.  Therefore  will  I  sing  of  thee,  and  praise 
thy  power  forever. 

Thee  doth  all  this  Cosmos  obey,  rolling  about  our  earth  as  thou 
dost  guide  it,  and  by  thee  willingly  ruled.  For  thou  dost  hold 
subservient  in  thy  unconquerable  hands  the  two-forked,  fiery,  ever- 
living  lightning.  Under  its  stroke  all  things  in  nature  shudder.  .  .  . 
Thou  dost  fulfil  that  universal  plan  which  goes  through  all  things, 
shining  in  all  the  greater  and  the  lesser  lights.  Naught  is  done 
without  thee  upon  earth,  O  spirit,  nor  in  the  firmament  above,  nor 
in  the  sea,  save  what  the  wicked  in  their  folly  do.  But  thou 
knowest  how  to  make  transgression  righteousness,  confusion  order, 
and  things  not  lovely  are  lovely  to  thee,  for  thou  dost  shape  to  one 
end  all  things  both  good  and  bad,  till  one  eternal  law  is  brought  to 

1  Translated  by  Prof.  J.  G.  Croswell. 


124  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

light  from  all.  This  purpose  the  wicked  neglect,  and  flee,  un- 
happy, who,  though  forever  desiring  possession  of  good,  see  not, 
and  hearken  not  to  the  law  of  God,  which,  if  they  obeyed,  they 
would  lead  the  life  that  is  best.  But  separated  from  all  that  is 
beautiful,  they  rush  self-willed  to  this  and  that,  some  with  jealous 
thirst  for  glory,  some  given  to  gain  without  limit,  some  to  ease 
and  the  body's  delight,  all  hastening  to  bring  to  pass  the  opposite 
of  their  purposes. 

But,  O  Zeus,  all-giver,  dark-clouded,  thunder-ruler,  save  man 
from  this  fatal  ignorance,  dispel  it  from  the  soul ;  and  grant  us  to 
share  that  wisdom  with  which  thou  dost  thyself  guide  all  things. 
Thus  honored  by  thee  will  we  return  honor  to  thee,  praising  thy 
deeds  continually.  There  is  no  greater  glory  for  men  or  gods 
than  forever  fittingly  to  sing  hymns  in  praise  of  thy  universal 
law.-^ 

Epictetus,  among  the  last  of  the  saints  of  Stoicism 
(about  117  A.D.),  often  repeats  that  one  of  the  highest 
employments  of  man  is  to  sing  the  praises  of  God ;  and 
his  commentator,  Simplicius,  in  finishing  his  work  on  the 
Enchiridion,  piously  says:  — 

"  I  supplicate,  O  Lord,  that  thou  wouldst  wash  away  the  dust 
{o^vv)  of  our  spirit-eyes,  that  we  may  know  well  both  God  and 
man  !  "  ^ 

But  evil  does  not  come  from  the  will  of  God.  Zeus 
willed  men  to  be  good  and  wise  and  temperate,  but  their 
wills  too  are  free. 

Thus  far  all  is  the  expression  of  pure  faith  in  a  Divine 

Being  and  a  Divine  Order.     But  there  comes  a  time  in  the 

^  Stobaeus  :   Eclo2;ae,  i.  30;  /cuSto-r'  ddapdrav  .   .   .  Zev. 
2  Epictetus  :  Enchiridion,  p.  526. 


THE  FAITH  OF  THE  STOICS.  1 25 

history  of  Stoicism  when  the  confusion  of  Zeus  with  the 
universe  served  to  introduce  pantheism,  and  to  weaken  the 
rehgious  sense  of  the  Stoics.  In  the  expressive  words  of 
Bossuet,  "  All  was  God  except  God  himself;  "  ^  they  felt 
the  mystery  of  God  as  Tennyson  has  expressed  in  early 
verses :  — 

"  The  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars,  the  seas,  the  hills,  the  plains, 
Are  not  these,  O  soul,  the  vision  of  him  who  reigns? 

"  Is  not  the  vision  he,  tho'  he  be  not  that  which  he  seems  ? 
Dreams  are  true  while  they  last,  and  do  we  not  live  in  dreams  ? 

"  Earth,  these  solid  stars,  this  weight  of  body  and  limb, 
Are  they  not  signs  and  symbol  of  thy  division  from  him  ? 

"  Speak  to  him,  then,  for  he  hears,  and  spirit  with  spirit  can  meet : 
Closer  is  he  than  breathing,  and  nearer  than  hands  and  feet. 

"  And  the  ear  of  man  cannot  hear,  and  the  eye  of  man  cannot  see  ; 
But  if  we  could  see  and  hear  this  vision,  were  it  not  he?" 

Bnt  the  grand  conception  of  God  as  One  returned  to 
the  later  Stoics,  to  Seneca  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  it 
reached  its  purest  and  highest  form  in  Epictetus. 

The  popular  view  of  Stoicism  is  taken  from  one  stage 
of  its  progress.  There  came  periods  both  in  Greek  and 
Roman  history  when  to  the  wise  man  the  times  seemed 
"  out  of  joint."  The  tyrants,  or  the  cruel,  selfish  rulers 
of  the  world,  were  in  power.  Liberty  was  trampled  under 
^  "  Tout  dtait  Dieu  exceptc  Dieu  meme." 


126  THE    UNKNOWN  COD. 

foot.  Ambition,  greed  for  money  and  office,  cruelty, 
lust,  and  corruption  seemed  universally  to  prevail.  Re- 
ligion had  become  priestcraft,  idolatry,  and  superstition. 
Worst  of  all  to  the  good  man,  the  light  of  God's  coun- 
tenance had  faded  away.  The  evil  powers  of  the  universe 
guided  it,  and  all  was  chance  and  drift.  Zeus  was  only 
man's  ideal  projected  on  the  black  background  of  eter- 
nity,—  the  dream  of  a  being  whom  the  rapid  current 
of  chance  and  destiny  was  hurling  on  towards  nothing- 
ness. All  without  was  hopeless,  all  within  black  in  thick 
darkness. 

Then  the  Stoic,  looking,  as  it  were,  into  the  face  of 
Goodness  and  Truth,  said  to  himself:  "  I  have  lived  for 
them,  I  w^ill  die  for  them  !  The  world's  applause  and  re- 
w'ards  are  nothing.  The  gods  themselves  are  nothing. 
Life  is  a  failure,  and  eternal  life  a  dream;  but  I  am  in 
harmony  with  the  universe.  No  pain  or  sorrow  or  wrong 
can  touch  me.  I  belong  to  the  everlasting  world  of  truth 
and  purity  and  love.  I  have  served  them,  and  they,  not 
the  prizes  they  bring,  are  my  reward.  No  heaven  of 
m}'thology  is  worth  the  half  they  offer  in  themselves. 
If  there  be  no  Zeus,  there  is  still  the  law  of  the  uni- 
verse ;  and  I  have  found  that  to  help  others  and  be 
true  to  myself  is  the  fabled  life  of  the  immortals.  I 
wrap  myself  in  peaceful  thoughts,  and  make  a  depart- 
ure with  my  own  hand  from  a  world  of  shadows  to 
realities." 


THE  FAITH  OF   THE  STOICS.  1 27 

It  often  seems  remarkable  to  the  Christian  student  how 
deep  an  impression  these  stoical  heroes  make  upon  the 
mind,  —  often  deeper  than  do  the  lives  of  devout  believ- 
ers. Perhaps  it  is  the  thorough  disinterestedness  of  their 
position,  and  their  utter  faith  in  principles.  The  great 
majority  of  Stoic  thinkers,  however,  have  no  atheistic 
position.  The  crown  of  Stoicism  is  its  belief  in  a  God, 
and  the  community  of  all  men  in  their  union  with  him. 
Even  its  morality  sprang  from  this  faith  in  a  moral  ruler 
of  perfect  goodness. 

Prayer.  —  The  .followers  of  Zeno  scarcely  believed  in 
temples,  or  in  prayer  for  material  objects.  They  spoke 
of  places  of  worship  with  contempt.  They  seemed  (along 
with  the  Christians)  to  be  the  atheists  of  that  day. 
Seneca  says :  "  No  prayer  is  needed,  except  to  ask  for  a 
good  state  of  mind,  for  health  of  soul."^  "  God  is  within 
thee.  It  is  absurd  to  fear  the  gods,  for  they  are  ever 
beneficent.  The  only  worthy  temple  of  God  is  the  uni- 
verse ;  he  is  not  to  be  worshipped  by  temples,  but  by  a 
pure  heart;  not  by  sacrifices,  but  by  a  good  life."^  The 
worship  of  that  ignoble  crowd  of  gods  he  pronounces  to 
be  from  habit  more  than  from  real  feeling. 

Cicero,  who  was  deeply  influenced  by  the  Stoics,  says 
that  the  best  worship   is  to  venerate  the  gods  with  pure 

^  Bonam  mentem,  bonam  valeludinem  animi  (Epistle,  x.). 
2  Epistle,  xcv.  47. 


128  THE    UNKNOWN  COD. 

mind  and  word.'  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  imperial  saint  of 
Stoicism,  says:  "Pray  not  to  save  thy  child,  but  that 
thou  mayst  not  fear  to  lose  him."  ^  Epictetus,  the  former 
slave,  but  the  great  apostle  of  the  faith,  makes  these 
expressions  of  utter  trust:  — 

"  Lastly,  for  all  other  pleasures  substitute  the  consciousness  that 
you  are  obeying  God,  and  performing,  not  in  word,  but  in  deed, 
the  duty  of  a  wise  and  good  man." 

"  Zeus  hath  been  pleased  to  let  me  recognize  this  within  myself, 
and  himself  to  discern  whether  he  hath  in  me  one  fit  for  a  soldier 
and  a  citizen,  and  to  employ  me  as  a  witness  to  other  men  con- 
cerning things  uncontrollable  by  will.  See  that  your  fears  were 
vain,  your  appetites  vain.  Seek  not  good  from  without ;  seek  it 
within  yourselves,  or  you  will  never  find  it.  For  this  reason  he 
now  brings  me  hither,  now  sends  me  thither,  sets  me  before  man- 
kind, poor,  powerless,  sick ;  banishes  me  to  Gyaros,  leads  me  to 
prison  ;  not  that  he  hates  me,  —  Heaven  forbid  !  —  for  who  hates 
the  most  faithful  of  his  servants  ?  Nor  that  he  neglects  me,  for 
he  neglects  not  one  of  the  smallest  things,  but  to  exercise  me,  and 
make  use  of  me  as  a  witness  to  others.  Appointed  to  such  a  ser- 
vice, do  I  still  care  where  I  am,  or  with  whom,  or  what  is  said  of 
me,  instead  of  being  wholly  attentive  to  God,  and  to  his  orders 
and  commands  ?  " 

"For  I  came  when  it  seemed  good  to  him,  and  again,  when  it 
seems  good  to  him,  I  depart ;  and  in  life  it  was  my  business 
to  praise  God  within  myself,  and  to  every  auditor,  and  to  the 
world." 

The  faith  of  the  Stoics^  is  that  all  things  are  from  God, 
and  return  to  him;   that  there  is  a  divine  law,  the  will  of 

^  Natura  Deorum,  ii.  28.  -  Meditations,  ix.  40. 

3  Zeller. 


THE  FAITH   OF   THE   STOICS.  1 29 

God,  and  that  all  good  acts  are  the  fulfilment  of  this  law; 
that  citizenship  of  the  world  depends  on  this  relation  to 
God,  and  inward  peace  and  independence  of  soul  are 
fruits  of  this  relation. 

If  such  a  belief  is  not  a  religion,  it  is  difficult  to  imag- 
ine what  is.  We  can  understand  why  the  great  Christian 
Apostle  quoted  from  the  Stoics  in  his  sermon  on  Mars 
Hill.  This  is  the  worship  of  the  Unknown  God.  Its  high- 
est expression  is  the  words  of  the  ancient  hymn, — 

"  Lead  thou  me  on,  O  Zeus  ! 
And  thou,  O  Destiny  !  " 

It  had  in  some  directions  the  true  effect  of  a  religion. 
It  influenced  practical  life.  Its  double  phrase,  "  Bear  and 
forbear  !"  {Abstine !  Snstine!)^  reached  all  acts  of  daily 
hfe. 

The  universe  is  the  City  of  Zeus,  therefore  all  events 
belonging  to  it  by  nature  rnust  be  borne. 

"  I  have  submitted  to  God  my  desire.  He  makes  that  I  should 
have  a  fever,  and  I  have  it.  .  .  .  What  he  does  not  wish,  I  do 
not  wish.     He  wishes  that  I  die,  and  I  am  certain  to  die."^ 

"  If  what  philosophers  say  of  the  kinship  between  God  and  men 
be  true,  what  has  any  one  to  do,  but,  like  Socrates,  when  he  is 
asked  what  countryman  he  is,  never  to  say  that  he  is  a  citizen  of 
Athens,  or  of  Corinth,  but  of  the  universe?"^  "Why  may  not 
such  a  one  call  himself  a  citizen  of  the  universe ;  why  not  a  son 
of  God?     And  why  shall  he  fear  anything  that  happens  among 

^  amxov  f  dpe^ov  /  -  Arrian,  iv.  I  ;  Epictetus. 

2  Epictetus. 

9 


I30  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

men  ?  Shall  kinship  to  Cresar,  or  any  other  of  the  great  at  Rome, 
enable  a  man  to  live  secure  above  contempt  and  void  of  all  fear 
whatever ;  and  shall  not  the  having  God  for  our  maker,  and  father, 
and  guardian,  free  us  from  griefs  and  alarms?"  ^ 

"  Whatever  must  be  suffered  from  the  constitution  of  the  universe, 
let  it  be  borne  with  a  great  soul.  To  this  oath  we  are  bound,  — 
to  bear  mortal  ills,  not  to  be  disturbed  by  those  which  it  is  not  in 
our  power  to  avoid.  In  tliis  kingdom  we  are  born.  To  obey  God 
is  liberty."  ^  "The  relation  to  God  is  the  source  of  every  virtue. 
It  is  not  possible  for  souls  who  have  never  been  able  to  live  in 
union  with  other  souls  to  attain  to  that  more  perfect  and  happy 
union  with  God."  ^  "  The  lover  of  God  becomes  by  that  fact  a 
brother  of  all  m^n.  He  is  pleasant  to  his  friends,  and  gentle  to 
enemies."  *  "  In  doing  good  to  others,  he  does  good  to  himself. 
He  learns  that  to  bear  is  human."  ^  "  Where  is  the  place  for  the 
highest  good?  you  ask.  The  soul.  But  this  can  never  receive 
God  unless  it  be  pure  and  holy."  ^ 

The  father  of  Stoicism,  Zeno,  says :  "  All  men  are  by 
nature  equal,  and  virtue  alone  makes  a  difference."  "  The 
great  poet  of  this  faith,  Lucan,  asks  if  there  be  any  habi- 
tation of  God  but  virtue,  and  dreams  of  a  time  when  all 
nations  shall  cast  aside  arms  and  love  one  another.^  And 
his  ideal  is  of  one  who  believes   himself  born  not  for  him- 

1  Epictetus. 

2  In  res^no  nati  sumus.     Deo  parere  libertas  est  (Seneca). 
2  Simplicius  :   Comm.,  xlii. 

*  Amicis  jucundus  inimicis  niilis  (De  Vit.  Beat.). 

6  De  Ira. 

®  Hie  nisi  purus  ac  sanctus,  Deum  non  capit  (Seneca:    Epistles). 

'  Diog.  Laert. 

8  Inque  vicem  gens  omnis  amet  (Phars.). 


THE  FAITH   OF  THE  STOICS.  131 

self  but  for  the  whole  world. ^  Cicero  speaks  of  "  a  citizen 
of  the  whole  world."  ^ 

From  this  Stoical  principle  of  the  brotherhood  of  man 
came  forth  the  greatest  influence  of  Stoicism,  that  upon 
the  ideas  of  Roman  jurists  in  international  law.  Cicero, 
who,  though  not  a  Stoic,  felt  these  influences,  speaks  of 
"  a  love  for  the  human  race."  ^ 

Seneca  alludes  to  a  common  law  of  the  human  race.* 
Florentinus  speaks  of  a  relation  of  nature  which  belongs 
to  natural  law,  by  which  all  men  are  equal.^  Ulpian 
claims  that  by  natural  law  all  men  are  born  free.** 

These  ideas  have  profoundly  influenced  modern  politi- 
cal thought,  and  even  practical  institutions  of  government. 
They  are  the  one  great  bequest  of  Stoicism  to  modern 
tim.es,  and  they  plainly  sprang  from  its  religion.^  It  is  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  Stoicism  was  always  harsh  and 
cruel.  Zeno  is  quoted  as  saying  that  "  the  God  who  rules 
the  city  is  Love."  The  followers  of  this  philosophy  were 
full  of  the  idea  that  man  belongs  to  all  others,  and  that  he 
is  a  stranger  to  none.  No  school  ever  taught  the  brother- 
hood of  man  more  clearly.     It  dealt  too  with  questions  of 

1  Nic  sibi  sed  toti  genitum  se  credera  mundo  (Phars.,  ii.  38). 

2  Civis  totius  mundi  (De  Leg.,  ii.  23). 

2  Caritas  generis  humani  (De  Finibus). 
^  Commune  jus  generis  humani  (Epistles). 
*  Omnes  homines  asquales  sunt. 
^  Jure  naturali  omnes  liberi  nascerentur. 
'  See  Laferrifere  :  Mem.  de  I'Acad.,  x. 


132  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

casuistry  from  the  highest  point  of  view.  Such  questions 
as  the  moral  right  to  sell  a  cargo  of  grain  at  famine  prices, 
the  owner  knowing  privately  that  a  new  supply  is  just 
outside  the  port,  are  discussed  in  a  manner  which  would 
invigorate  a  Christian  moralist.^ 

Stoicism  had  also  the  enthusiasm  of  a  religion.  It  fur- 
nished not  a  few  men  who  were  willing  to  die  for  their 
principles.  Epictetus  says  that  the  wise,  the  true  Stoics, 
are  true  "  deacons  and  martyrs,"  ^  servants  ^  of  men  and 
witnesses  to  truth. 

1  Antipater  and  Diog.  ;  Cic,  De  Off. ;  etc. 

2  hioLKovoi  Koi  ndprvpes  (Diss.,  iii.  26). 

3  The  word  "deacon  "  is  literally  a  dus/-worker\  "  martyr"  means 
witness. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   FAITH   OF  THE   STOICS.  —  SENECA. 

Ubictnnque  homo  est,  ibi  benejicio  loats  est.  .  .  .  I/ot7io  sacra  res  homini. 

Seneca  :  Epistles. 

'  I  ^HERE  comes  a  period  in  human  history,  after  a  long 
course  of  polytheism  and  idolatry,  when  the  mind 
of  man  hungers  for  something  in  belief  more  solid  and  en- 
during, and  the  soul  becomes  open  to  the  divine  inspira- 
tions that  are  always  acting.  Then  ideas  are  abroad  which 
strongly  resemble  those  we  derive  from  Christianity.  Men 
seem  to  get  foretastes  of  divine  revelations.  The  world 
is  ready  for  a  higher  faith.  At  such  a  period  as  this,  in 
the  same  century  with  Paul,  there  lived,  mostly  in  Rome, 
a  Spanish  rhetorician  and  essayist  of  the  keenest  mental 
quality,  Seneca,  who,  without  perhaps  feeling  the  current 
religious  ideas  deeply  himself,  yet  possessed  an  unsur- 
passed ability  in  gathering  them  up  and  expressing  them. 
He  called  himself  a  disciple  of  the  "  Stoa,"  but  never 
himself  could  act  on  Stoical  principles.  His  form  of 
expression  in  conveying  these  great  thoughts  and  hopes 
was  such  as  few  Latins  were  ever  gifted  with.  Seneca's 
picture    of    Stoicism    may    be    accepted    as    a    truthful 


134  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

representation   of  what   was   in   the   minds   of  many  men 
at   that   period. 

Whether  he  ever  came  directly  in  contact  with  Chris- 
tianity has  been  much  discussed.^  It  is  at  least  doubtful 
if  he  had  ever  read  the  sacred  writings  of  our  faith.  But 
Paul  must  have  preached  to  the  lower  retainers  of  the 
imperial  court  in  Rome  while  he  was  one  of  its  literary 
members.  His  elder  brother,  M.  A.  Novatus,  called 
Gallio  from  his  adopted  father,  had  met  Paul  in  the  cele- 
brated scene  in  Achaia,  where  the  Roman  had  acted  like 
a  philosophical  and  broad-minded  ruler,  and  refused  to 
interfere  with  secular  power  in  differences  relating  to  re- 
ligious ceremonies  and  metaphysical  beliefs.^  The  air  of 
Rome  among  the  common  classes  must  have  been  full 
of  the  phrases  of  the  new  religion.  Slaves  and  scribes 
and  soldiers,  and  the  unfortunate  and  poor  must  have 
repeated  one  to  another  its  words  of  consolation  and 
spiritual  life.  A  rhetorician  like  Seneca  would  naturally 
catch  up  these  expressions  and  ideals  and  adapt  them 
to  his  own  theories  and  hopes ;  even  as  a  religious 
writer  now  might  make  use  of  the  terms  of  Spiritual- 
ism or  Animal  Magnetism,  without  necessarily  believing 
in  the  truth  of  the  theory. 

^  See  the  able  discussions  by  Baur  (Seneca  und  Paulus).  and  Dourif 
(Du  Stoicisme  et  Christianisme,  etc.)  ;  also  Boissier  (La  Religion 
Romaine),  ii.  48. 

^  Acts  xviii.  12. 


\ 

THE  FAITH  OF   THE  STOICS.  135 

Certainly  on  one  occasion,  in  a  private  letter,  Seneca 
describes  a  mental  change  which  had  come  over  him,  in 
words  that  might  well  have  been  used  by  a  Christian  in 
picturing  his  own  conversion:  — 

"  I  have  been  not  so  much  emended  as  transformed,  —  so  sud- 
den is  the  change.^  .  .  .  Thou  askest  me  what  progress  I  have 
made.     I  have  just  begun  to  be  a  friend  to  myset/y^ 

His  use  of  such  expressions  as  "carnal,"  as  opposed 
to  "  spiritual,"  and  sacer  intra  7ios  spiritus  ("  the  Holy 
Spirit  within  us"),  as  a  power  "without  which  no  man 
can  be  good,"  and  "  we  all  have  sinned,  some  to  a  less 
degree,  some  worse,"  ^  —  this  all  shows  certainly  a  famil- 
iarity with  Scripture  phrases  and  ideas  not  usual  in  classic 
writers. 

To  the  modern  Christian  it  is  a  matter  for  wonder  and 
warning  that  so  many  great  and  noble  natures  of  the 
classic  period,  having  opportunity,  never  in  the  least 
grasped  the  truths  of  Christianity.  They  were  men  ap- 
parently looking  for  truth  everywhere,  and  open  to  what- 
soever things  were  noble  and  reverend  and  gracious. 
Yet  this  new  faith  was  to  them  as  Mormonism  or 
Buddhism  is  to   most  Christians  now. 

That    gloomy    moralist,    Tacitus,  —  the    Carlyle    of  his 

1  Intellige,  Lucili,  non  emendari  me  tantum  sed  transfigurari,  .  .  . 
tarn  subitam  mutationem  (Epistles). 

2  Epistles. 

8  .  .  .  Omnes  peccaviinus  (De  Clem.). 


136  THE    UNKNOWN  COD. 

day,  —  ready  to  see  the  hidden  meaning  in  the  strangest 
customs  of  the  barbarian  Teutons,  only  alkidcs  to  the 
purest  faith  which  had  ever  appeared  on  earth,  in  one 
of  his  condensed  phrases  of  contempt,  as  an  "  execrable 
superstition."  Epictetus,  one  of  the  most  saintly  beings 
who  ever  appeared  in  the  w^orld,  speaks  of  the  Chris- 
tians dying  as  if  purely  from  "  habit."  And  the 
noble  Marcus  Aurelius  scarcely  alludes  to  them,  ex- 
cept to  their  heroic  deaths  as  from  "  obstinacy,"  ^ 
while  in  public  life  he  punished  and  persecuted  them. 
Once,  indeed,  Epictetus  speaks  of  the  "  Jews  "  (by 
whom  he  probably  means  the  Christians)  as  if  they  were 
a  model  in  life  and  conduct  far  above  the  lives  of  the 
Stoics.2 

Seneca  hardly  mentions  the  Christians  except  with  bit- 
terness or  contempt.  If  the  wise  and  noble  of  the  past 
can  thus  overlook  the  great  truths  revealed  in  their  own 
times,  how  can  we  now  be  sure  that  w^e  have  seen  in  our 
day  all  the  revelations  of  God? 

The  great  doctrine  of  the  Stoics,  the  belief  in  an  all- 
controlling  Creator,  was  deeply  planted  in  Seneca's  phi- 
losophy.    He  frequently  speaks  of  God  as  the  Governor 

^  Meditations,  xi.  3. 

2  "We  are  Jews  only  in  words,  for  our  feelings  do  not  agree 
with  our  discourse;  and  though  we  boast  our  science,  we  are  very 
far  from  the  use  and  practice  of  the  things  we  talk ''  (Arrian : 
Epictetus). 


THE  FAITH  OF   THE  STOICS.  137 

of  the   Universe,  the  Builder  and  Governor  of  all  things, 
the  Ruler  of  the  World.' 

"  The  same  whom  we  call  Jove  is  the  ruler  and  guardian  of  the 
universe,  the  Soul  of  the  wodd ;  to  him  every  name  suits."  '^  "  Do 
you  wish  to  call  him  Fate,  you  will  not  err,  for  he  it  is  from  whom 
all  things  are  suspended,  the  Cause  of  causes.  Do  you  wish  to 
call  him  Providence,  you  will  say  rightly,  for  he  it  is  by  whose 
counsel  this  wodd  is  provided  for.  Or  will  you  call  him  Nature, 
you  will  not  be  mistaken,  for  he  it  is  from  whom  all  things  are  born, 
by  whose  spirit  we  live.  This  God  is  within  our  thoughts,  near  to 
us.'^  "  "  Between  him  and  good  men  there  is  friendship  and  union, 
virtue  conciliating.  Friendship,  do  I  say  ;  rather  affinity  {nccessitas) 
and  likeness.  ...  A  good  man  is  his  disciple  and  true  offspring."  ^ 

There  is  for  man  and  for  God  nothing  higher  than  the 
good  in  itself;  and  absolute  good  is  for  both  the  highest 
object. 

"As  a  true  soldier  will  bear  wounds,  number  his  scars,  and 
though  transfixed  with  weapons,  dying,  will  love  him  for  whom  he 
falls  [his  emperor],  so  the  good  man  will  have  in  mind  the  old 
precept,  '  Follow  God  ! '  "  ^ 

But  this  Being  is  more  than  a  Providence;  he  is  a 
persona!,  moral  Ruler.  He  docs  not  keep  a  good  man 
in  delights;  he  tries  him,  and  hardens  him,  and  prepares 
him  for  himself.*^     "  I  obey  not  God,  but  agree  with  him. 

1  De  Prov.  ;  Epistles.  Rector  universi,  Omnium  Conditor,  Arbiter 
Deus  universi  (De  Vit.  Beat.  ;  Quest.  Nat  ). 

*  Ibid.;  Cui  nomen  omne  convenit. 

8  Prope  est  a  te,  Deus  tecum  est,  intus  est  (Epistles). 

4  £)e  Prov.  ^  De  Vita  Beata. 

6  This  certainly  has  a  Christian  sound  :  Hos  itaque  Deus,  quos 
probat,  quos  amat,  indurat.  recognoscit.  exercet  (De  Prov.). 


138  THE   UNKNOWN  COD. 

I  follow  from  the  heart,   not  because  I  must."  ^     To  the 
Stoic  this  faith  brought  the  highest  moral  gifts. 

"  Mercy  is  the  quality  which  brings  man  nearest  to  God "  "^ 
"  Standeth  not  he  nearest  the  gods  who  showeth  a  godlike  nature 
in  his  bearing,  —  blessing,  beneficent  and  powerful,  for  the  noblest 
ends?"^  "Mercy  is  with  God  and  man  the  quality  which,  not 
injures  and  destroys,  but  preserving  and  upholding,  works,  and  is 
ever  directed  through  love  and  goodness  to  this,  —  to  let  all  these 
blessings  come  to  human  society  on  which  its  well-being  and 
success  depend?"  ^ 

This  faith  of  the  Stoics  has  the  true  effect  of  a  rehgion, 
according  to  the  Roman  moralist.     Seneca  says :  — 

"  Our  task  is  to  live  according  to  nature,  and  to  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  the  gods ;  they  give  everything  without  reward.  If  one 
imitates  the  gods,  one  must  do  good  to  the  unthankful."  "  Better 
to  do  a  benefit  to  the  wicked,  than  withdraw  on  their  account  a 
hand  from  the  good."  '  "  The  rain  falleth  on  the  fields  of  the 
wicked  and  ruthless  ;  so  should  man's  benefaction  be."  ^  "  Thou 
must  live  for  another,  if  thou  wouldst  live  for  thyself."  '  "  There  is 
no  one  under  the  name  of  a  man  who  is  not  pleasing  to  me."  ^ 
"  Wherever  is  man,  there  is  a  place  for  benefaction.  Man  is  a 
•  sacred  thing  to  man."  ^  "  We  must  love  all  men,  of  all  condi- 
tions, even  enemies,  to  the  last  end  of  life.  It  belongs  to  a  great 
soul  to  despise  injuries.     Revenge  is  an  inhuman  word." 

1  Epistles.  ^  De  Clem. 

8  Ibid.  ■»  Ibid. 

6  De  Renefact.  ®  Ibid. 

'  Alteri  vivere  oportet,  si  vis  tibi  vivere  (Epistles). 

8  Nemo  non,  hominis  nomine,  apud  megraliosus  est  (De  Clem.). 

9  Ubicumque  liomo  est,  ibi  beneficio  locus  est.  .  .  .  Homo  sacra 
res  homini  (Epistles). 


THE  FAITH  OF   THE  STOICS.  139 

Seneca    looks    upon    mankind    as    a    body,    in    which 

individuals    are    limbs ;    he    conceives    a    love    embracing 

all    humanity.      In   this    view   the    slave    is    a    man,    and 

we   are    to   treat    the    lowest   as    the    highest.     Cruel    and 

bloody    shows    are,    of    course,    utterly    opposed    to    this 

philosophy.     Upon  these  Seneca  utters  one  of  his  finest 

epigrams :  — 

"  Now  let  us  back  to  the  great  city  !  Too  long  have  we  been 
without  its  applause  and  din.  Now  it  is  such  a  pleasure  to  taste 
again  of  human  blood  !  "  ^ 

Yet  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  great  rhetori- 
cian was  false  to  his  Stoical  principles,  both  in  regard  to 
slavery  and  the  cruel  custom  of  exposition  of  children. 
Of  Providence  and  the  soul,  our  Roman  Stoic  discourses 
as  becomes  his  school :  — 

"  At  the  last,  the  wise  man  is  bound  to  the  same  necessity  as 
the  gods.  One  irrevocable  current  carries  both  divine  and  hu- 
man things."^  "We,  the  dying,  receive  things  that  must  die."  ^ 
"  There  is  something  lofty,  regal,  unconquered,  unwearied  in  the 
virtuous  soul."*  "Dost  thou  wish  to  profit  the  gods,  be  good  ; 
he  has  worshipped  them  sufficiently  who  has  imitated  them."^ 
"The  wise  man  knows  he  must  bear  his  own  burden."*^  "We 
must  serve  in  a  kind  of  campaign,  where  is  no  rest  and  no  fur- 
lough."^ "Restrain  your  desires,  how  often?  As  often  as  you 
shall  sin."  ^ 

1  De  Tranq.  Animi.  ^  De  Prov. 

8  This  condensed  epigram,  "  Accepimus  pcrituri,  peritura,"  is  also 
from  his  essay  on  Providence. 

4  De  Vita  Beata.  ^  Epistles.  «  Ibid. 

1  Ibid.  *  Ibid. 


140  THE    UXKNOWX  GOD. 

Pic  tells  Lucilius  that  then  he  is  perfect  when  he  fully 
understands  that  the  most  unfortunate  are  the  fortunate.^ 

"  He  is  not  wise  unless  his  mind  is  transformed.  ...  He  is 
great  who  never  groaned  at  evils,  never  complained  at  his  fate ; 
.  .  .  who  turned  the  minds  of  all  to  himself,  since  he  was  ever 
gentle  and  humane  ;  who  had  the  perfect  mind,  above  which  is 
nothing  but  the  mind  of  God."^ 

Death.  — \)c^.\\\,  and  the  region  beyond  death,  was  the 
unfailing  topic  for  the  Stoic's  reflections  in  all  ages.  In 
earlier  times  his  belief  in  a  future  life  had  not  been  always 
unshaken ;  but  in  the  later  period  of  the  new  Stoics  this 
belief  shone  out  brightly,  though  often  beclouded. 

Of  death,  Seneca  says :  "  He  will  live  badly  who  does 
not  know  how  to  die  well."  ^  The  death-day,  in  his  view, 
is  the  birthday  of  immortality  {eterni  Jiatalis). 

"  The  body  is  a  brief  lodging-house  [/wspitium]  which  the  noble 
soul  does  not  fear  to  lose.  All  earthly  things  are  only  the  baggage 
which  we  did  not  bring  into  the  world  and  cannot  take  with  us."  ^ 
"  Something  great  and  noble  is  the  human  soul.  It  admits  no 
limits  beyond  what  are  common  to  it  with  God.  It  accepts  no 
low  fatherhood  ;  ...  its  country  is  space,  it  embraces  the  high- 
est;  ...  it  hath  no  limits  to  its  age  ;  '  All  years  are  mine.'  When 
that  day  cometh  which  separateth  the  mingling  of  the  divine  and 
human,  then  will  I  leave  the  body  behind  where  I  have  found  it ; 

1  .   .   .   Felices  infelicissimos  (Epistles). 

2  Epistles. 

8  .    .    .    Male    vivet     quisquis     nesciet    bene    mori     (De    Tranq. 
Animi). 
■*  Epistles. 


THE   FAITH   OF    THE   STOICS.  141 

I  will  give  myself  back  to  the  gods.  .  .  .  Another  origin  awaits  us, 
another  state  of  things.  Therefore  look  forward  undauntedly  to 
death." 

Beyond  is  the  quics  eterna,  —  a  great  and  eternal  peace. 
In  Seneca's  "  Consolation  to  Marcus  "  ^  he  says  the  dead 
are  free  from  all  care  and  sorrow,  and  are  happy  in  that 
glorious  society  of  blessed  spirits  {feliccs  aninias).  Death 
to  this  philosopher  is  the  great  day  of  judgment.  This 
thought  of  a  future  life  permits  nothing  sordid  or  low  or 
criminal  to  sink  into  the  soul.  Death  interrupts  but  does 
not  destroy  life.^  The  hour  of  death  is  not  for  the  soul 
the  last  thing,  but  only  for  the  body ;  ^  and  his  soul  is 
never  more  divine  than  when  conscious  that  man  is  born 
for  this,  —  to  leave  life.  Most  clearly  does  it  show  its 
higher  origin  when  it  holds  its  present  seat  as  too  nar- 
row, and  does  not  fear  to  leave  it.  For  whither  it  will 
go,  he  shows  who  remembers  whence  it  came.*  "  I  am 
greater,  and  born  to  greater  things,  than  that  I  could  be 
a  slave  to  the  body,  which  I  consider  as  nothing  but  a 
chain  laid  about  my  freedom."  In  his  "  Consolation  to 
Polybia,"  ^  he  writes  :  — 

"  Thou  art  mistaken.  To  thy  brother  the  light  has  not  set ;  a 
more  trustworthy  thing  became  his  portion  ;  hither  goes  all  our 
common  road ;  he  has  not  left  us,  he  has  gone  before.  The  dead 
is  not  really  gone,  only  the  image  is  lost ;  he  himself  is  eternally  in 

^  Epistles.  2  ji,ifi 

3  Ibid.  .  4  Ibid. 

^  Cons,  ad  Polybiam. 


142  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

a  better  lot,  freed  from  strange  burdens,  and  entirely  belonging  to 
himself.^  Death  is  only  a  passage  to  a  better  body.  It  is  not 
power  and  name,  but  goodness,  which  lifts  to  heaven  ;  souls  must 
wait  for  purification  before  they  rise  to  heaven.  Finally  a  great 
and  eternal  peace  (^pax  magna  et  eternal  receives  him.  He  is 
freed  from  all  pain  and  envy  and  trouble.  No  shadow  will  darken 
that  brilliancy.  Then  wilt  thou  say  thou  hast  lived  in  darkness, 
when  thou  shalt  see  the  whole  light.  How  will  divine  Light  seem 
to  thee  when  thou  seest  it  in  its  own  place.'^  We  have  then  reason 
to  congratulate  ourselves,  when  our  spirit,  delivered  from  darkness, 
not  merely  sees  a  glimmer  of  distant  brightness,  but  the  full  day, 
etc.^  .  .  .  There  friends  shall  meet,  and  the  departed  teach  us 
heavenly  things.*  .  .  .  The  wise  man,  unshaken  by  calamities  and 
untouched  by  passion,  calm  amid  tempests,  is  like  God  himself."  ^ 
"  God  is  the  source  of  all  good,  but  it  is  the  possession  of  true 
good  which  makes  true  happiness."  ®  "  Virtue  makes  a  man  worthy 
to  come  into  union  with  God."^ 

Sin.  —  Seneca  often  repeats  that  no  one  is  without 
sin.^  "  How  much  is  demanded  of  us  by  piety,  the  love 
of  man,  generosity,  justice,  and  truth,  all  of  which  stands 
not  in  tables  of  the  law.  If  we  think  of  this,  if  we  are 
more  reasonable  against  those  who  fail,  more  forgiving 
to  those  who  insult  us,  might  we  not  cease  to  be  angry 
with  ourselves  and  most  of  all  with  the  gods?  "  The  path 
to  goodness  is  through  faults  and  errors  ;  he  speaks  of 
"the  struggle  of  the  flesh  and  the  spirit,"  and  of  the 
chains    and    darkness    of  the    soul    in    which    we   are    in- 

^  Consolatio  ad  Marcum.  2  Epistles. 

8  Epistles.  ■*  Consolatio  ad  Marcum. 

5  Epistles.  6  Ibid. 

■^  Consortium  Dei  (Quest.  Nat.).  ^  De  Ira. 


THE  FAITH  OF  THE  STOICS.  143 

I. 
volvcd.^     Sin  is  the  universal  insanity  (^insania  commiuiis). 

We  are  all  lost,  and  reserved  for  death.'-^  The  first  step 
is  knowledge  of  our  sin,^  but  we  cannot  be  healed  by 
ourselves.  Some  one  must  lend  a  hand,  some  one  edu- 
cate.* "Choose  some  good  man  whom  thou  admirest: 
hold  this  model  ever  before  thy  eyes ;  make  conscience 
thy  guide  and  mentor;  each  night  examine  thy  actions 
and  thought  for  the  day."  ^ 

These  great  thoughts  and  principles,  which  Seneca  has 
treated  with  the  consummate  skill  of  a  practised  rhetori- 
cian, became  the  guiding  thoughts  and  motives  of  some 
of  the  still  later  Stoics.  We  shall  give  more  fully  in 
the  succeeding  chapters  the  thoughts  and  maxims  of  the 
lame  Phrygian  slave  Epictetus,  and  of  the  Emperor 
Marcus  Aurelius.  These  express  certainly  some  of  the 
highest  principles  of  life  and  conduct  ever  reached 
by  the  human  intellect.  They  are  full  of  trust,  faith, 
resignation,  and  the  spirit  of  the  utmost  self-sacrifice. 
The  belief  in  God  seems  profound  and  controlling,  and 
the  desire  for  goodness,  truth,  and  purity,  the  strongest 
possible.  They  form  with  the  thoughts  and  writings  of 
the  earlier  Stoics  a  complete  and  pure  religious  faith. 

1  Consolatio  ad  Marcum. 

2  Quest.  Nat.  ^  Epistles. 
4  Epistles.  ^  De  Ira. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

STOICAL    WRITINGS.  —  EPICTETUS.^ 
(about    117    A.D.) 

Stoical   Independence. 

"  T  T  is  in  your  power  to  prevent  my  continuing  a  senator ;  but 
1  while  I  am  one,  I  must  go."  —  "Well,  then,  at  least  be  silent 
there."  —  '•'  Do  not  ask  my  opinion  and  I  will  be  silent."  —  "  But 
I  must  ask  it."  —  "  And  I  must  speak  what  appears  to  me  to  be 
rjaht."  —  '-But  if  you  do,  I  will  put  you  to  death."  —  "When  did 
I  ever  tell  you  that  I  was  immortal  ?  You  will  do  your  part,  and  I 
mine ;  it  is  yours  to  kill  and  mine  to  die  intrepid  ;  yours  to  ban- 
ish, mine  to  depart  untroubled  "  (p.  10). 

I  shall  never  be  Milo,  and  yet  I  do  not  neglect  my  body  ;  nor 
Crcesus,  and  yet  I  do  not  neglect  my  property ;  nor  should  we 
omit  any  effort  from  a  despair  of  arriving  at  the  highest  (p.  12). 

A   Son   of  God. 

If  a  person  could  be  persuaded  of  this  principle  as  he  ought, 
that  we  are  all  originally  descended  from  God,  and  that  he  is  the 
father  of  men  and  gods,  I  conceive  he  never  would  think  of  him- 
self meanly  or  ignobly.  Suppose  C?esar  were  to  adopt  you,  there 
would  be  no  bearing  your  haughty  looks  ;  and  will  you  not  feel 
ennobled  on  knowing  yourself  to  be  the  son  of  God?  (p.  12.) 

^  These  translations  are  from  Higginson's  excellent  revision  of 
Mrs.  Carter's  version. 


STOICAL    WRITINGS.  1 45 

Now  if  virtue  promises  happiness,  prosperity,  and  peace,  then 
progress  in  virtue  is  certainly  progress  in  each  of  these.  For  to 
whatever  point  the  perfection  of  anything  absolutely  brings  us, 
progress  is  always  an  approach  towards  it  (p.  13). 

God    as   Master. 

"  Are  we  not  of  kindred  to  God,  and  did  we  not  come  from 
him?  Suffer  us  to  go  back  thither  from  whence  we  came;  suffer 
us  at  length  to  be  delivered  from  these  fetters  that  bind  and  weigh 
us  down.  Here  thieves  and  robbers,  courts  and  tyrants,  claim 
power  over  us  through  the  body  and  its  possessions.  Suffer  us 
to  show  them  that  they  have  no  power."  And  in  this  case  it 
would  be  my  part  to  answer :  "  My  friends,  wait  for  God  till  he 
shall  give  the  signal,  and  dismiss  you  from  this  service  ;  then  return 
to  him  "   (p.  30). 

Why,  if  you  have  it,  slave,  you  will  have  it ;  if  not,  you  will  go 
out  of  life.  The  door  is  open,  why  do  you  lament?  What  room 
remains  for  tears ;  what  occasion  for  flattery  ?  Why  should  any 
one  person  envy  another?  Why  should  he  be  impressed  with 
awe  by  those  who  have  great  possessions,  or  are  placed  in  high 
rank,  especially  if  they  are  powerful  and  passionate?  For  what 
will  they  do  to  us?  The  things  which  they  can  do,  we  do  not 
regard ;  the  things  about  which  we  are  concerned  they  cannot 
reach  (p.  31). 

Suicide. 

"  You  are  ridiculous  in  thinking  that  if  your  general  had  placed 
me  in  any  post  I  ought  to  maintain  and  defend  it,  and  choose  to 
die  a  thousand  times  rather  than  desert  it ;  but  that  if  God  hath 
assigned  me  any  station  or  method  of  life,  I  ought  to  desert  that 
for  you"  (p.  31). 

I  wrote  for  him  in  a  submissive  style ;    but  after  reading  my 
letter  he  returned  it  to  me,  and  said,  "  I  wanted  your  assistance, 
not  your  pity;  for  no  evil  hath  befallen  me"  (p.  32). 
10 


146  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

I  cannot  be  hid  from  thee  in  any  of  my  motions.  ...  A  wise 
and  good  man,  after  examining  these  things,  submits  his  mind 
to  him  who  administers  the  whole,  as  good  citizens  do  to  the  laws 
of  the  commonwealth.  He,  then,  who  comes  to  be  instructed, 
ought  to  come  with  this  aim :  How  may  I  in  everything  follow  the 
gods?  How  may  I  acquiesce  in  the  divine  administration,  and 
how  may  I  be  free?  (p.  40.) 

God  as  Father. 

O  slavish  man  !  will  you  not  bear  with  your  own  brother,  who 
has  God  for  his  Father,  as  being  a  son  from  the  same  stock,  and 
of  the  same  high  descent?  (p.  44.) 

And  cannot  he  who  made  and  moves  the  sun,  a  small  part  of 
himself,  if  compared  with  the  whole,  —  cannot  he  perceive  all 
things?   (p.  46.) 

So  that,  when  you  have  shut  your  doors,  and  darkened  your 
room,  remember  never  to  say  that  you  are  alone,  for  you  are  not 
alone  ;  but. God  is  within,  and  your  genius  is  within  ;  and  what  need 
have  they  of  light  to  see  what  you  are  doing?  .  .  .  Never  distrust, 
nor  accuse,  nor  murmur  at  any  of  the  things  appointed  by  him  ; 
nor  shrink  from  doing  or  enduring  that  which  is  inevitable  (p.  47). 

Praise  to  God. 

For  if  we  had  any  understanding,  ought  we  not,  both  in  public 
and  in  private,  incessantly  to  sing  and  praise  the  Deity  and  re- 
hearse his  benefits  ?  Ought  we  not,  whether  we  dig  or  plough  or 
eat,  to  sing  this  hymn  to  God.  ,  .  .  For  what  else  can  I  do,  a 
lame  old  man,  but  sing  hymns  to  God?  Were  I  a  nightingale, 
I  would  act  the  part  of  a  nightingale  ;  were  I  a  swan,  the  part  of 
a  swan.  But  since  I  am  a  reasonable  creature,  it  is  my  duty  to 
praise  God.  This  is  my  business.  I  do  it.  Nor  will  I  ever  desert 
this  post,  so  long  as  it  is  permitted  me ;  and  I  call  on  you  to  join 
in  the  same  song  (p.  50). 


STOICAL    WRITINGS.  1 47 

Survival  of  the  Best. 

But  show  me  that  he  who  has  the  worse  principles  can  get  the 
advantage  over  him  who  has  the  better.  You  never  will  show  it, 
nor  anything  like  it ;  for  the  law  of  Nature  and  of  God  is  this,  —  let 
the  better  always  prevail  over  the  worse  (p.  85). 

If  you  were  a  statue  of  Phidias,  as  Zeus  or  Minerva,  you  would 
remember  both  yourself  and  the  artist,  .  .  •  And  are  you  now  care- 
less how  you  appear,  when  you  are  the  workmanship  of  Zeus 
himself?  (p.  115.) 

How,  then,  is  this  to  be  effected?  Be  willing  to  approve  your- 
self to  yourself;  be  willing  to  appear  beautiful  in  the  sight  of  God  ; 
be  desirous  to  converse  in  purity  with  your  own  pure  mind  and 
with  God  (p.   155). 

Union  v^rith  God. 

Let  any  of  you  show  me  a  human  soul  desiring  to  be  in  unity 
with  God ;  not  to  accuse  either  God  or  man ;  not  to  be  disap- 
pointed of  its  desire,  nor  incur  its  aversion  ;  not  to  be  angry,  not 
to  be  envious,  not  to  be  jealous ;  in  a  word,  desiring  from  a  man 
to  become  a  god  ;  and  in  this  poor  mortal  body  aiming  to  have 
fellowship  with  Zeus.     Show  him  to  me  ;  but  you  cannot. 

Who  is  there  whom  bright  and  agreeable  children  do  not  at- 
tract to  play,  and  creep,  and  prattle  with  ?  But  who  was  ever  taken 
with  an  inclination  to  divert  himself  or  bray  with  an  ass  ?  for  be  the 
creature  ever  so  little,  it  is  still  a  Uttle  ass  (p.  185). 


The  Stoic's  Wealth. 

Your  father  deprives  you  of  your  money ;  but  he  does  not  hurt 
you.  He  will  possess  more  land  than  you  ;  as  much  more  as  he 
pleases,  but  will  he  possess  more  honor,  more  fidelity,  more  af- 
fection? Who  can  deprive  you  of  this  possession?  Not  even 
Zeus  j  for  he  did  not  will  it  so,  since  he  has  put  this  good  into  my 


148  THE   UNKNOWN  COD. 

own  power,  and  given  it  me,   like  his  own,  uncompelled,  unre- 
strained, and  unhindered  (p.   201). 

Self-Examination. 

"  Ere  every  action  of  the  former  day 
Strictly  thou  dost,  and  righteously  survey. 
What  have  I  done  ?     In  what  have  I  transgressed  ? 
What  good  or  ill  has  this  day's  life  expressed  ? 
Where  have  I  failed  in  what  I  ought  to  do  ? 
If  evil  were  thy  deeds,  repent  and  mourn ; 
If  good,  rejoice." 

We  should  retain  these  verses  so  as  to  apply  them  to  our  use, 
not  merely  to  say  them  by  rote,  as  we  do  with  verses  in  honor  of 
Apollo  (p.  219), 

This,  too,  you  should  be  prepared  to  say  with  regard  to  a  father. 
It  is  not  lawful  for  me  to  affront  you,  father,  even  if  a  worse  than 
you  had  come,  for  all  are  from  paternal  Zeus.  And  so  of  a  brother, 
for  all  are  from  kindred  Zeus ;  and  thus  we  shall  find  Zeus  to  be 
the  superintendent  of  all  the  other  relations   (p.  222). 

Whenever  you  lay  anything  to  the  charge  of  Providence,  do  but 
reflect,  and  you  will  find  that  it  has  happened  agreeably  to  reason 
(P-  234)- 

God's  Will. 

Consider  carefully,  know  yourself,  consult  the  Divinity,  attempt 
nothing  without  God ;  for  if  he  counsels  you,  be  assured  that  it  is 
his  will,  whether  that  you  should  become  eminent,  or  that  you 
should  suffer  many  a  blow  (p.   250). 

Shall  we  never  wean  ourselves,  and  remember  what  we  have 
heard  from  the  philosophers,  — unless  we  have  heard  them  as  jug- 
gling enchanters,  —  that  the  universe  is  one  great  city,  and  the 
substance  one  of  which  it  is  forined ;  that  there  must  necessarily 
be  a  certain  rotation  of  things  ;  that  some  must  give  way  to  others, 
some  be  dissolved,  and  others  rise  in  their  stead ;  some  remain  in 


STOICAL    WRITINGS.  149 

the  same  situation,  and  others  be  moved ;  but  that  all  is  full  of  be- 
loved ones,  first  of  the  gods  and  then  of  men,  by  nature  endeared 
to  each  other?  (p.  266.) 

Zeus  as  Father. 

For  he  had  not  merely  heard  it  as  matter  of  talk,  that  Zeus  was 
the  father  of  mankind,  but  he  esteemed  and  called  him  his  own 
Father,  and  performed  all  that  he  did  with  a  view  to  him  (p.  267). 

You  must  observe  the  duty  of  a  soldier,  and  perform  everything 
at  the  nod  of  your  general,  and  even,  if  possible,  divine  what  he 
would  have  done.  For  there  is  no  comparison  between  the  above- 
mentioned  general  and  this  whom  you  now  obey,  either  in  power 
or  excellence  of  character  (p.  270). 

As  became  a  minister  of  Zeus,  at  once  caring  for  men  and 
obedient  to  God.  Hence  the  whole  earth,  not  any  particular  place, 
was  his  country  (p.  275). 

Hence  a  wise  and  good  man,  mindful  who  he  is  and  whence  he 
came,  and  by  whom  he  was  produced,  is  attentive  only  how  he 
may  fill  his  post  regularly  and  dutifully  before  God.  .  .  .  Whatever 
post  or  rank  thou  shalt  assign  me,  like  Socrates,  I  will  die  a  thousand 
times  rather  than  desert  it  (p.  279). 

God  the  Creator. 

For  whence  had  I  these  things  when  I  came  into  the  world  ? 
My  father  gave  them  to  me.  And  who  gave  them  to  him  ?  And 
who  made  the  sun?  Who  the  fruits?  Who  the  seasons?  Who 
their  connection  and  relations  with  each  other?  And  after  you 
have  received  all,  and  even  your  very  self  from  another,  are  you 
angry  with  the  giver?  And  do  you  complain  if  he  takes  anything 
away  from  you?  Who  are  you,  and  for  what  purpose  did  you 
come?  Was  it  not  he  who  brought  you  here?  Was  it  not  he 
who  showed  you  the  light  ?  Hath  not  he  given  you  companions  ? 
Hath  not  he  given  you  senses  ?  Hath  not  he  given  you  reason  ? 
And  as  whom  did  he  bring  you  here  ?     Was  it  not  as  a  mortal  ? 


150  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Was  it  not  as  one  to  live  with  a  little  portion  of  flesh  upon  earth, 
and  to  see  his  administration  ?  To  behold  the  spectacle  with  him, 
and  partake  of  the  festival  for  a  short  time  ?  After  having  beheld 
the  spectacle  and  the  solemnity,  then,  as  long  as  it  is  permitted 
you,  will  you  not  depart,  when  he  leads  you  out,  adoring  and 
thankful  for  what  you  have  heard  and  seen?  (p.  305.) 

But  how  should  we  have  been  of  use  to  any?  For  where  must 
they  have  dwelt?  If  we  were  useful  alive,  should  we  not  be  of 
still  more  use  to  mankind  by  dying  when  we  ought  and  as  we 
ought?  And  now  the  remembrance  of  the  death  of  Socrates  is 
not  less,  but  even  more  useful  to  the  world  than  that  of  the  things 
which  he  did  and  said  when  alive  (p.  315). 

The  Friend  of  God. 

But  I  do  not  applaud  where  it  is  unbecoming.  I  will  pay  no 
undeserved  honor,  for  I  am  free,  and  the  friend  of  God,  so  as  to 
obey  him  willingly ;  but  I  must  not  value  anything  else,  neither 
body,  nor  possessions,  nor  fame,  —  in  short,  nothing.  For  it  is 
not  his  will  that  I  should  value  them.  For  if  this  had  been  his 
pleasure  he  would  have  placed  in  them  my  good,  which  now  he 
hath  not  done  ;  therefore  I  cannot  transgress  his  commands.  Seek 
in  all  things  your  own  highest  good  (p.  319). 

And  is  it  possible  that  any  one  should  be  thus  disposed  towards 
these  things  from  madness,  and  the  Galileans  ^  from  mere  habit  ? 

(P-  340.) 

Piety. 

If  death  overtakes  me  in  such  a  situation,  it  is  enough  for  me  if 
I  can  stretch  out  my  hands  to  God  and  say  :  "  The  opportunities 
which  I  have  received  from  thee  of  comprehending  and  obeying 
thy  administration  I  have  not  neglected.  As  far  as  in  me  lay,  I 
have  not  dishonored  thee.  See  how  I  have  used  my  perceptions ; 
how  my  convictions.     Have  I  at  any  time  found  fault  with  thee  ? 

^  Christians. 


STOICAL    WRITINGS.  151 

Have  I  been  discontented  at  thy  dispensations,  or  wished  them 
otherwise?  Have  I  transgressed  the  relations  of  life?  I  thank 
thee  that  thou  hast  brought  me  into  being.  I  am  satisfied  with 
the  time  that  I  have  enjoyed  the  things  which  thou  hast  given  me. 
Receive  them  back  again,  and  distribute  them  as  thou  wilt ;  for 
they  were  all  thine,  and  thou  gavest  them  to  me  "  (p.  356). 

God  alone  Master. 

No  one  tlierefore  is  my  master,  cither  to  procure  me  any  good 
or  to  involve  me  in  any  evil;  but  I  alone  have  the  disposal  of 
myself  with  regard  to  these  things.  Since  these  then  are  secured 
to  me,  what  need  have  I  to  be  troubled  about  externals?  What 
tyrant  is  formidable  ?  What  disease  ?  What  poverty  ?  What  offence  ? 
"I  have  not  pleased  such  a  one?"  Is  he  my  concern  then?  Is 
he  my  conscience ?  "No."  Why  then  do  I  trouble  myself  any 
further  about  him?  "But  he  is  thought  to  be  of  some  conse- 
quence." Let  him  look  to  that,  and  they  who  think  him  so.  But 
I  have  One  whom  I  must  please,  to  whom  I  must  submit,  whom 
I  must  obey,  —  God,  and  those  who  surround  him  (p.  366). 

Freedom  of  the  Stoic. 

For  my  part,  I  have  examined  the  whole.  No  one  has  authority 
over  me.  God  hath  made  me  free  ;  I  know  his  commands.  After 
this  no  one  can  enslave  me.  I  have  a  proper  vindicator  of  my 
freedom,  proper  judges.  Are  you  the  master  of  my  body?  But 
what  is  that  to  me  ?  Of  my  little  estate  ?  But  what  is  that  to  me  ? 
Of  banishment  and  chains  ?  Why,  all  these  again,  and  my  whole 
body,  I  give  up  to  you ;  make  a  trial  of  your  power  whenever  you 
please,  and  you  will  find  how  far  it  extends  (p.  342). 

Because,  if  I  am  not  admitted,  I  would  not  wish  to  go  in,  but 
would  much  rather  that  things  should  be  as  they  are ;  for  I  esteem 
what  God  wills  to  be  better  than  what  I  will.  To  him  I  yield 
myself  as  a  servant  and  follower  (p.  342). 


CHAPTER  X. 

STOICAL  WRITINGS.  —  MARCUS  AURELIUS.' 
(about    175    A.D.) 

Right   Living. 

SINCE  it  is  possible  that  thou  mayest  depart   from  life  this 
very  moment,  regulate  every  act  and  thought  accordingly 
(book  ii.   §  11). 

Harmony  with  Nature. 

But  this  consists  in  keeping  the  daemon  within  a  man  free  from 
violence  and  unharmed,  superior  to  pains  and  pleasures,  doing 
nothing  without  a  purpose,  nor  yet  falsely  and  with  hypocrisy,  not 
feeling  the  need  of  another  man's  doing  or  not  doing  anything ; 
and  besides,  accepting  all  that  happens,  and  all  that  is  allotted,  as 
coming  from  thence,  wherever  it  is,  from  whence  he  himself  came ; 
and,  finally,  waiting  for  death  with  a  cheerful  mind,  as  being  nothing 
else  than  a  dissolution  of  the  elements  of  which  every  living  being 
is  compounded.  But  if  there  is  no  harm  to  the  elements  them- 
selves in  -each  continually  changing  into  another,  why  should  a 
man  have  any  apprehension  about  the  change  and  dissolution  of 
all  the  elements  ?  For  it  is  according  to  nature,  and  nothing  is 
evil  which  is  according  to  nature  (book  ii.  §  17). 

The  power  of  making  use  of  ourselves,  and  filling  up  the  meas- 
ure of  our  duty,  and  clearly  separating  all  appearances,  and  con- 

1  These  translations  are  from  George  Long's  excellent  version  of 
the  Meditations  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  in  Bohn's  Classical  Library. 


STOICAL    WRITINGS.  153 

sidering  whether  a  man  should  now  depart  from  life,  and  whatever 
else  of  the  kind  absolutely  requires  a  disciplined  reason,  —  all  this  is 
"already  extinguished.  We  must  make  haste,  then,  not  only  because 
we  are  daily  nearer  to  death,  but  also  because  the  conception  of 
things  and  the  understanding  of  them  cease  first  (book  iii.  §  i). 

Manhood. 

And  further,  let  the  deity  which  is  in  thee  be  the  guardian  of 
a  living  being,  manly  and  of  ripe  age,  and  engaged  in  matters 
political,  and  a  Roman,  and  a  ruler,  who  has  taken  his  post  like  a 
man  waiting  for  the  signal  which  summons  him  from  life,  and  ready 
to  go,  having  need  neither  of  oath  nor  of  any  man's  testimony. 
Be  cheerful  also,  and  seek  not  external  help  nor  the  tranquillity 
which  others  give.  A  man  then  must  stand  erect,  not  be  kept 
erect  by  others  (book  iii.  §  5). 

Political  Ideals. 

And  from  him  [Severus]  I  received  the  idea  of  a  polity  in  which 
there  is  the  same  law  for  all,  a  polity  administered  with  regard  to 
equal  rights  and  equal  freedom  of  speech,  and  the  idea  of  a  kingly 
government  which  respects  most  of  all  the  freedom  of  the  gov- 
erned (book  i.  §  14). 

The  Quick-passing  Opportunity. 

Remember  how  long  thou  hast  been  putting  off  these  things, 
and  how  often  thou  hast  received  an  opportunity  from  the  gods, 
and  yet  dost  not  use  it.  Thou  must  now  at  last  perceive  of  what 
universe  thou  art  a  part,  and  of  what  administrator  of  the  universe 
thy  existence  is  an  efflux,  and  that  a  limit  of  time  is  fixed  for  thee, 
which  if  thou  dost  not  use  for  clearing  away  the  clouds  from  thy 
mind,  it  will  go  and  thou  wilt  go,  and  it  will  never  return  (book 
ii.  §  4)- 


154  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Readiness  for  Death. 

Every  mornent  think  steadily  as  a  Roman  and  a  man  to  do  what 
thou  hast  in  hand  with  perfect  and  simple  dignity,  and  feeling  of 
affection,  and  freedom,  and  justice,  and  to  give  thyself  relief  from 
all  other  thoughts ;  and  thou  wilt  give  thyself  relief  if  thou  doest 
every  act  of  thy  life  as  if  it  were  the  last,  laying  aside  all  careless- 
ness and  passionate  aversion  from  the  commands  of  reason,  and 
all  hypocrisy,  and  self-love,  and  discontent  with  the  portion  which 
has  been  given  to  thee.  Thou  seest  how  few  the  things  are,  the 
which  if  a  man  lays  hold  of,  he  is  able  to  live  a  life  which  flows  in 
quiet,  and  is  like  the  existence  of  the  gods ;  for  the  gods  on  their 
part  will  require  nothing  more  from  him  who  observes  these  things 
(book  ii.  §  5). 

Charity  of  Opinion. 

It  is  natural  that  these  things  should  be  done  by  such  persons, 
it  is  a  matter  of  necessity ;  and  if  a  man  will  not  have  it  so,  he 
will  not  allow  the  fig-tree  to  have  juice.  But  by  all  means  bear 
this  in  mind,  that  within  a  very  short  time  both  thou  and  he  will 
be  dead  ;  and  soon  not  even  your  names  will  be  left  behind  (book 
iv.  §  6). 

Do  not  act  as  if  thou  wert  going  to  live  ten  thousand  years. 
Death  hangs  over  thee.  While  thou  livest,  while  it  is  in  thy  power, 
be  good  (book  iv.  §  1 7). 

The  City  of  Zeus. 

Everything  harmonizes  with  me  which  is  harmonious  to  thee, 
O  universe  1  Nothing  for  me  is  too  early  nor  too  late,  which  is  in 
due  time  for  thee.  Everything  is  fruit  to  me,  which  thy  seasons 
bring,  O  Nature  !  From  thee  are  all  things,  in  thee  are  all  things, 
to  thee  all  things  return.  The  poet  says,  Dear  city  of  Cecrops ; 
and  wilt  thou  not  say,  Dear  city  of  Zeus  ?  (book  iv.  §  23.) 


STOICAL    WRITINGS.  155 

The  Day  of  Death. 

If  any  god  told  thee  that  thou  shalt  die  to-morrow,  or  certainly 
on  the  day  after  to-morrow,  thou  wouldst  not  care  much  whetlicr 
it  was  on  the  third  day  or  on  the  morrow,  unless  thou  wast  in  the 
highest  degree  mean-spirited  ;  for  how  small  is  the  difference.  So 
think  it  no  great  thing  to  die  after  as  many  years  as  thou  canst 
name  rather  than  to-morrow  (book  iv.  §  47). 

Simple  Prayer. 

A  prayer  of  the  Athenians  :  Rain,  rain,  O  dear  Zeus,  down  on 
the  ploughed  fields  of  the  Athenians  and  on  the  plains.  In  truth 
we  ought  not  to  pray  at  all,  or  we  ought  to  pray  in  this  simple  and 
noble  fashion  (book  v.  §  7). 

And  so  accept  everything  which  happens,  even  if  it  seem  dis- 
agreeable, because  it  leads  to  this,  to  the  health  of  the  universe 
and  to  the  prosperity  and  felicity  of  Zeus  (book  v.  §  8). 

Contentment. 

Live  with  the  gods.  And  he  does  live  with  the  gods  who  con- 
stantly shows  to  them  that  his  own  soul  is  satisfied  with  that  which 
is  assigned  to  him,  and  that  it  does  all  that  the  daemon  wishes, 
which  Zeus  hath  given  to  every  man  for  his  guardian  and  guide,  a 
portion  of  himself.  And  this  is  every  man's  understanding  and 
reason  (book  v.  §  27). 

Transitoriness  of  Life. 

Soon,  very  soon,  thou  wilt  be  ashes,  or  a  skeleton,  and  either  a 
name,  or  not  even  a  name ;  but  name  is  sound  and  echo.  And 
the  things  which  are  much  valued  in  life  are  empty  and  rotten  and 
trifling,  and  [like]  little  dogs  biting  one  another,  and  litde  children 
quarrelUng,  laughing,  and  then  straightway  weeping. 


156  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 


The  Stoic's  View  of  the  Universe. 

Look  round  at  the  courses  of  the  stars,  as  if  thou  wert  going  along 
with  them ;  and  constantly  consider  the  changes  of  the  elements 
into  one  another,  for  such  thoughts  purge  away  the  filth  of  the 
terrene  life  (book  vii.  §  47). 

The  art  of  life  is  more  like  the  wrestler's  art  than  the  dancer's, 
in  respect  of  this,  that  it  should  stand  ready  and  firm  to  meet  on- 
sets which  are  sudden  and  unexpected  (book  vii.  §  61). 

Self-questioning. 

On  the  occasion  of  every  act,  ask  thyself.  How  is  this  with 
respect  to  me  ?  Shall  I  repent  of  it  ?  A  little  time  and  I  am  dead, 
and  all  is  gone.  What  more  do  I  seek,  if  what  I  am  now  doing  is 
the  work  of  an  intelligent  living  being,  and  a  social  being,  and  one 
who  is  under  the  same  law  with  God?  (book  viii.  §  2.) 

[Consider]  that  men  will  do  the  same  things  nevertheless,  even 
though  thou  shouldst  burst  (book  viii.  §  4). 

In  the  next  place,  having  fixed  thy  eyes  steadily  on  thy  business, 
look  at  it,  and  at  the  same  time  remembering  that  it  is  thy  duty  to 
be  a  good  man,  and  what  man's  nature  demands,  do  that  without 
turning  aside ;  and  speak  as  it  seems  to  thee  most  just,  only  let 
it  be  with  a  good  disposition  and  with  modesty  and  without 
hypocrisy  (book  viii.  §  5). 

Thou  hast  not  leisure  [or  ability]  to  read.  But  thou  hast  leisure 
[or  ability]  to  check  arrogance  ;  thoU'  hast  leisure  to  be  superior  to 
pleasure  and  pain  ;  thou  hast  leisure  to  be  superior  to  love  of  fame, 
and  not  to  be  vexed  at  stupid  and  ungrateful  people,  nay,  even  to 
care  for  them  (book' viii.  §  8). 

Thou  sufferest  this  justly;  for  thou  choosest  rather  to  become 
good  to-morrow  than  to  be  good  to-day  (book  viii.  §  22). 

Am  I  doing  anything?  I  do  it  with  reference  to  the  good  of 
mankind.     Does  anything  happen  to  me?     I  receive  it  and  refer 


STOICAL    WRITINGS.  157 

it  to  the  gods,  and  the  source  of  all  things,  from  which  all  that 
happens  is  derived  (book  viii.  §  23). 

The  Happy  Death. 

It  would  be  a  man's  happiest  lot  to  depart  from  mankind  with- 
out having  had  any  taste  of  lying  and  hypocrisy  and  luxury  and 
pride  (book  ix.  §  2). 

The  Stoic's  Prayer. 

Either  the  gods  have  no  power  or  they  have  power.  If,  then, 
they  have  no  power,  why  dost  thou  pray  to  them  ?  But  if  they 
have  power,  why  dost  thou  not  pray  for  them  to  give  thee  the 
faculty  of  not  fearing  any  of  the  things  which  thou  fearest,  or  of 
not  desiring  any  of  the  things  which  thou  desirest,  or  not  being 
pained  at  anything,  rather  than  pray  that  any  of  these  things  should 
not  happen  or  happen  ?  (book  ix.  §  40.) 

When  thou  art  offended  with  any  man's  shameless  conduct, 
immediately  ask  thyself,  Is  it  possible,  then,  that  shameless  men 
should  not  be  in  the  world  ?  (book  ix.  §  42.) 

For  at  the  same  time  that  thou  dost  remind  thyself  that  it  is 
impossible  that  such  kind  of  men  should  not  exist,  thou  wilt  be- 
come more  kindly  disposed  towards  every  one  individually  (book 
ix.  §  42). 

Harmony  with  Nature. 

So  also  as  man  is  formed  by  nature  to  acts  of  benevolence, 
when  he  has  done  anything  benevolent,  or  in  any  other  way  con- 
ducive to  the  common  interest,  he  has  acted  conformably  to  his 
constitution,  and  he  gets  what  is  his  own  (book  ix.  §  42). 

If  a  man  is  mistaken,  instruct  him  kindly  and  show  him  his  error. 
But  if  thou  art  not  able,  blame  thyself,  or  blame  not  even  thyself 
(book  ix.  §  4). 


158  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Destiny. 

Whatever  may  happen  to  thee,  it  was  prepared  for  thee  from  all 
eternity;  and  the  implication  of  causes  was  from  eternity  spin- 
ning the  thread  of  thy  being,  and  of  that  which  is  incident  to  it 
(book  X.  §  5). 

To  her  who  gives  and  takes  back  all,  to  Nature,  the  man  who  is 
instructed  and  modest  says.  Give  what  thou  wilt ;  take  back  what 
thou  wilt.  And  he  says  this  not  proudly,  but  obediently,  and  well 
pleased  with  her  (book  x.  §  14). 

According  to  Nature. 

Let  men  see,  let  them  know  a  real  man  who  lives  according  to 
nature.  If  they  cannot  endure  him,  let  them  kill  him.  For  that 
is  better  than  to  live  thus  [as  men  do]  (book  x.  §  15). 

No  longer  talk  at  all  about  the  kind  of  man  that  a  good  man 
ought  to  be,  but  be  such  (book  x.  §  16). 

Readiness  for  Death. 

What  a  soul  that  is  which  is  ready,  if  at  any  moment  it  must  be 
separated  from  the  body,  and  ready  either  to  be  extinguished  or 
dispersed  or  continue  to  exist;  but  so  that  this  readiness  comes 
from  a  man's  own  judgment,  not  from  mere  obstinacy,  as  with  the 
Christians,  but  considerately  and  with  dignity,  and  in  a  way  to  per- 
suade another,  without  tragic  show  (book  xi.  §  3). 

Have  I  done  something  for  the  general  interest?  Well  then  I 
have  had  my  reward.  Let  this  always  be  present  to  thy  mind  and 
never  stop  [doing  such  good]  (book  xi.  §  4). 

"  Me  and  my  children  if  the  gods  neglect, 
This  hath  its  reason  too  "  (book  xi.  §  6). 

Self-Respect. 

Suppose  any  man  shall  despise  me.  Let  him  look  to  that  him- 
self.    But  I  will  look  to  this,  that  I  be  not  discovered  doing  or 


STOICAL    WRITINGS.  1 59 

saying  anything  deserving  of  contempt.  Shall  any  man  hate  me  ? 
Let  him  look  to  it.  But  I  will  be  mild  and  benevolent  towards 
every  man,  and  ready  to  show  even  him  his  mistake,  not  reproach- 
fully, nor  yet  as  making  a  display  of  my  endurance,  but  nobly  and 
honestly,  like  the  great  Phocion,  unless,  indeed,  he  only  assumed 
it.  For  the  interior  [parts]  ought  to  be  such,  and  a  man  ought  to 
be  seen  by  the  gods  neither  dissatisfied  with  anything  nor  complain- 
ing. For  what  evil  is  it  to  thee,  if  thou  art  now  doing  what  is  agree- 
able to  thy  own  nature,  and  art  satisfied  with  that  which  at  this 
moment  is  suitable  to  the  nature  of  the  universe,  since  thou  art  a 
human  being  placed  at  thy  post  in  order  that  what  is  for  the  com- 
mon advantage  may  be  done  in  some  way?  (book  xi.  §  13.) 

A  Man  'Worthy  of  the  Universe. 

If,  then,  whatever  the  time  may  be  when  thou  shalt  be  near  to 
thy  departure,  neglecting  everything  else  thou  shalt  respect  only 
thy  ruling  faculty  and  the  divinity  within  thee ;  and  if  thou  shalt 
be  afraid  not  because  thou  must  some  time  cease  to  live,  but  if 
thou  shalt  fear  never  to  have  begun  to  live  according  to  nature, 
—  then  thou  wilt  be  a  man  worthy  of  the  universe  which  has  pro- 
duced thee,  and  thou  wilt  cease  to  be  a  stranger  in  thy  native 
land,  and  to  wonder  at  things  which  happen  daily  as  if  they  were 
something  unexpected,  and  to  be  dependent  on  this  or  that  (book 
xii.  §  i). 

God. 

God  sees  the  minds  [ruling  principles]  of  all  men  bared  of  the 
material  vesture  and  impurities.  For  with  his  intellectual  part 
alone  he  touches  the  intelligence  only  which  has  flowed  and  been 
derived  from  himself  into  these  bodies  (book  xii.  §  2). 

Future  Life. 

How  can  it  be  that  the  gods,  after  having  arranged  all  things 
well  and  benevolently  for  mankind,  have  overlooked  this  alone, 


l6o  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

that  some  men,  and  very  good  men,  and  men  who,  as  we  may 
say,  have  had  most  communion  with  the  divinity,  and  through 
pious  acts  and  rehgious  observances  have  been  most  intimate  with 
the  divinity,  when  they  have  once  died  should  never  exist  again, 
but  should  be  completely  extinguished?  (book  xii.  §  5.) 

All  the  Gift  of  God. 

And  thou  hast  forgotten  this  too,  that  every  man's  intelligence 
is  a  god,  and  is  an  efflux  of  the  deity ;  and  forgotten  this,  that 
nothing  is  a  man's  own,  but  that  his  child  and  his  body  and  his 
very  soul  came  from  the  deity ;  forgotten  this,  that  everything  is 
opinion ;  and,  lastly,  thou  hast  forgotten  that  every  man  lives  the 
present  time  only,  and  loses  only  this  (book  xii.  §  26). 

Thus,  then,  with  respect  to  the  gods,  from  what  I  constantly 
experience  of  their  power,  from  this  I  comprehend  that  they  exist, 
and  I  venerate  them  (book  xii.  §  28). 

Eternity. 

How  small  a  part  of  the  boundless  and  unfathomable  time  is 
assigned  to  every  man,  for  it  is  very  soon  swallowed  up  in  the 
eternal !  And  how  small  a  part  of  the  whole  substance  ;  and  how 
small  a  part  of  the  universal  soul ;  and  on  what  a  small  clod  of 
the  whole  earth  thou  creepest !  Reflecting  on  all  this,  consider 
nothing  to  be  great,  except  to  act  as  thy  nature  leads  thee,  and  to 
endure  that  which  the  common  nature  brings  (book  xii.  §  32). 

Life  a  Drama. 

"  But  I  have  not  finished  the  five  acjs ;  only  three  of  them."  — 
"  Thou  sayest  well :  but  in  life  the  three  acts  are  the  whole  drama ; 
for  what  shall  be  a  complete  drama  is  determined  by  him  who  was 
once  the  cause  of  its  composition,  and  now  of  its  dissolution ;  but 
thou  art  the  cause  of  neither.  Leave  the  stage  then  satisfied,  for 
he  also  who  releases  thee  is  satisfied  "  (book  xii.  36). 


STOICAL    WRITINGS.  l6l 

After  reading  these  and  similar  elevated  expressions  of 
Stoical  thoughts,  the  question  constantly  comes  up,  Why- 
was  not  this  faith  more  controlling  and  more  successful? 
Why  was  its  influence  confined  to  a  few  noble  spirits,  and 
why,  even  with  the  leaders  of  the  faith,  did  it  not  save 
them  from  strange  inconsistencies  and  errors? 

One  great  defect  of  their  system  was  continually  felt  by 
the  more  religious  Stoics,  —  the  want  of  a  personal  model 
for  the  virtues  they  inculcated.  Seneca,  as  we  have  seen, 
laments  this,  as  do  others ;  and  to  all,  pure  Theism  was 
somewhat  bare  and  cold.  Marcus  Aurelius  appeals  to  the 
life  of  Epictetus,  and  the  latter  recalls  Socrates  and  his 
death.  Seneca  cites  noble  examples;  but  in  all  the  his- 
tory of  Stoicism  there  were  scarcely  any  examples  fault- 
less and  inspiring,  and  the  best  —  that  of  Epictetus  — 
was  presented  near  the  close  of  the  history  of  this  system. 
There  was  no  single  life,  or  personality,  except  his,  in 
the  eight  hundred  years  of  the  history  of  Stoicism,  which 
could  be  considered  even  a  partial  revelation  of  the  Divine 
Spirit.  There  was  nothing  about  which  the  affection  and 
veneration  of  the  masses  could  cling. 

The  prevalence  of  pantheism  at  one  period  of  its  ex-  • 
istence  of  course  weakened  its  influence  over  the  mind 
of  the  Greek  and  Roman  peoples.  Then  there  were  cer- 
tain great  moral  defects  in  the  lives  of  its  leaders  which 
lessened  its  power.  The  defence  and  practice  of  suicide 
by  some  of  the  Stoics  (though  Epictetus  is  here  an  ex- 


1 62  THE   UX KNOWN  GOD. 

ccption),  the  indifference  of  some  to  cruelty  and  slavery 
and  sensuality,  the  excuses  made  by  others  for  the  expo- 
sition of  children  and  unnatural  crime/  and  above  all  the 
severe  and  hard  tone  of  some  of  its  teachings,  unfitted 
it  for  the  more  humane  and  mild  habit  of  mind  which 
was  creeping  over  the  Roman  Empire.  Its  religion  was 
not  definite  enough  for  the  masses.  It  did  not  bring 
God  sufficiently  near  to  man.  He  was  too  much  a  dis- 
tant Ruler,  or  a  cold  Fate,  or  a  mere  moral  drift  of  the 
universe.  Man  in  all  ages  craves  an  incarnation  of 
Divinity,  and  relationship  of  affection,  and  close  union 
through  a  human  manifestation. 

Stoicism  formed  great  heroes  and  noble  thinkers ;  it  did 
not  stimulate  the  sweet  and  gentle  benefactors  of  every- 
day life.  It  was  a  grand  protest  against  a  world  in  which 
the  honest  man  was  almost  ashamed  to  live.  It  did  not 
create  a  new  world  of  righteousness.  It  could  not  endure 
the  City  of  the  Emperor,  and  was  not  able  to  build  an 
ideal  City  of  God.  The  lack  of  profound  faith  in  immor- 
tality prevented  its  being  a  message  of  hope  and  conso- 
lation to  the  sorrowing  and  oppressed.  It  is  true  some 
of  its  leaders,  like  Seneca,  discourse  as  Christian  saints 
might  do  of  the  blessed  life  beyond  death;  but  these  pic- 
tures were  rather  dreams  of  poetic  rhetoricians  than  con- 
victions of  believers.     The  true  Stoic  went  forth  into  the 

^  For  instances  of  these  errors  see  Diog.  Laer.,  33,  131  ;  Sext. 
Pyrrh.,  iii.  201,  i.  160;  Plut.,  1.  c,  21,  i. 


STOICAL    WRITINGS.  1 63 

great  darkness  trusting  in  the  immortality  of  virtue,  not 
of  the  individual  soul.  Except  in  one  direction,  which 
we  have  mentioned,  Stoicism  did  not  leave  any  profound 
influence  on  society.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  masses  knew 
anything  about  it.  The  leaders  themselves  were  often 
priggish,  inconsistent,  only  superficially  noble,  and  some- 
times full  of  inflated  pride.  They  were  never  in  touch 
with  common  people.  But  on  the  Roman  lawyers  the 
Stoical  theories  and  ideals  had  an  abiding  influence  and 
power.  They  colored  the  whole  system  of  Roman  Inter- 
national Law,  and  through  that  have  reached  all  modern 
States,  and  have  aff'ected  political  progress  for  eighteen 
centuries. 

The  Stoical  principle  of  the  Brotherhood  of  man  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  Christian  idea  of  the  Fatherhood 
of  God  and  the  fraternity  of  all  races  and  classes.  "  For 
the  Christ  just  coming,  the  way  was  thus  made  ready," 
said  an  early  Christian  apologist.^  In  fact,  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  the  great  Roman  jurists  felt  in  the  moral 
atmosphere  of  the  age,  even  as  Seneca  did,  the  Christian 
truths  of  the  unity  of  all  men,  and  their  equality  before 
one  ,  great  Father,  —  truths  which  were  circulating  among 
the  masses  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

Saint  Augustine  admits  that  the  reading  a  semi- 
Stoical  work  by  Cicero  first  aroused  his  mind  and  turned 

1  Cliristo.  jam  turn  venienti  crede,  parata  via  est  (Prud.  con.  Symm., 
ii.  C20). 


1 64  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

him  toward  Christianity ;  ^  though  he  says,  poetically,  that 
it  is  one  thing  to  see  from  some  woody  hill-top  the  coun- 
try of  peace,  and  quite  another  to  keep  the  path  leading 
thither.2 

The  world  was  ripe  for  a  higher  faith  than  Stoicism, 
which  was  soon  to  appear.  Yet  the  moralist  will  ever  be 
grateful  for  this  great  and  heroic  school  of  thought.  It 
is  something  that  there  have  been  men  who  could  look 
upon  sickness  and  pain  and  sorrow,  and  death  itself,  as 
only  passing  ills  to  a  soul  resting  in  its  harmony  with  the 
universe  and  the  infinite  Creator;  who  believed  and  acted 
on  the  conviction  that  the  only  real  evil  was  baseness 
and  selfishness,  and  all  other  misfortunes  were  but  flitting 
shadows ;   who  could  say  with  life-long  sincerity,  — 

"  For  virtue  alone,  of  human  things, 
Takes  her  reward  not  from  the  hand  of  others,  — 
Virtue  herself  rewards  the  toils  of  Virtue  ;  " 

some  of  whom  regarded  death  as  the  middle  point  of  a 
long  life,^  and  others  plunged  into  nothingness  with  un- 
shaken peace  because  Zeus  and  Destiny  willed  it. 

The  Christian  can  only  regard  these  souls  with  rever- 
ence, because  they  rose  so  much  above  human  meanness, 
and  were  so  steadfast  with  so  little  light  to  guide  them. 

^  Surgere  coeperam  ut  ad  te  redirem  (Conf.,  iv.  4). 
"^  Aliud  est  de  silvestri  cacumine,  videre  patriam  pads  .  .   .  et  aliud 
tenere  viam  illuc  ducentem  (Conf.,  vii.  21). 

8  Longae  vitae  .  .  .  Mors  media  est  (Lucan,  i.  457). 


STOICAL    WRITINGS.  1 65 

All  mankind  are  "  debtors  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans," 
in  that  they  produced  men  who  "  knew  how  to  die;  "  who 
looked  upon  death  as  nothing,  compared  with  dishonor 
and  wickedness ;  and  who,  under  the  tyranny  of  govern- 
ments, and  amid  the  universal  corruption  of  society,  could 
show  what  the  human  soul  may  be  when  sustained  by 
God,  and  union  with  his  universe. 

It  should  in  no  way  lessen  our  esteem  for  the  power  of 
Christianity  that  it  naturally  filled  the  gaps  which  Stoicism 
left  in  the  popular  mind  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  did 
what  that  system  could  not  do.  It  offered  a  perfect  model 
for  all  succeeding  ages,  faultless  and  inspiring.  It  taught 
the  brotherhood  of  man  in  fuller  and  broader  measure 
than  even  Seneca  or  Epictetus  ever  dreamed  of.  It  not 
only  trained  men  to  live,  but  taught  them  to  die  with  glad 
trust.  No  Stoical  sufferer  ever  faced  death,  not  only  with 
the  courage,  but  with  the  joy  and  elation  which  made  the 
Christians  a  proverb  for  their  obstinacy  and  fearlessness. 
It  undermined  slavery,  and  broke  up  the  cruel  habits  of 
the  populace  as  Stoicism  had  never  done.  It  reached 
the  masses  as  this  philosophy  could  not;  and  the  great 
oppressed  and  suffering  multitude  of  the  world  felt  them- 
selves in  a  new  brotherhood  of  s}'mpathy,  and  with  new 
hopes  and  comforts.  The  rhetorical  consolations  of  Sen- 
eca and  the  vague  hopes  of  Aurelius  became  the  assured 
faith  and  confidence  of  tens  of  thousands  of  common  men 


1 66  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

and  women.  Like  the  belief  of  the  best  of  the  Stoics, 
this  new  morality  and  benevolence  and  hope  rested  on 
love  for  a  common  Father,  unlike  the  Stoical  Deity  in 
his  manifestation  in  the  life  and  death  of  One  called  the 
"  Son  of  God." 

It  was  this  last  fact,  especially,  which  has  carried  this 
religion  on  with  increasing  power  to  the  present  day, 
while  Stoicism  is  now  only  a  study  for  the  curious  and 
a  field  of  investigation  for  the  scholar. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

REVIEW. 

Follow  y 071  the  star  that  lights  a  desert  pathway,  yours  or  mine, 
Forward  till  you  see  the  highest  Huttian  Nature  is  divine. 

Follow  Light  and  do  the  Right,  for  man  can  half  control  his  doom, 
Till  you  find  the  deathless  Angel  seated  in  the  vacant  tomb. 

Tennyson. 

A  S  we  follow  down  in  our  thoughts  the  remarkable 
^  facts  detailed  in  the  preceding  chapters,  we  see  a 
continuous  revelation  of  great  truths  granted  to  various 
races  and  peoples,  and  transmitted  by  them  to  their  de- 
scendants. The  idea  of  the  Unknown  God  as  the  original 
uncreated  Power  of  the  Universe,  the  source  of  all  life, 
and  the  centre  of  moral  forces  as  well  as  material,  is  there. 
His  everlasting  power  and  divinity  are  seen  through  "the 
things  that  are  made."  He  is  not  always  "  Father,"  but  he 
is  beneficent  and  just;  and  the  hope  of  union  with  him  and 
of  likeness  to  him  is  the  inspiration  of  the  soul.  This  of 
course  is  not  the  primeval  faith,  but  a  growth  from  a  con- 
ception of  Heaven  as  god,  and  then  of  the  Heaven-God. 
Far  behind  this  come  lower  conceptions  of  a  divine  Being 
or  beings.  But  throughout  all  ages  and  among  peoples 
of  a  comparatively  low  state  of  progress  were  inspirations 


1 68  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

of  an  intelligent  Power  above  and  behind  all  things.  Why 
such  races  grasped  this  sublime  idea  and  were  imbued 
and  impelled  by  it  cannot  be  explained.  It  did  not  come 
from  their  material  progress  or  their  intellectual  advance- 
ment. The  Hebrews,  who  showed  this  inspiration  more 
than  any  other  people,  were  far  inferior  to  the  Egyptians 
or  the  Greeks  in  civilization  or  intellectual  power.  Even 
another  branch  of  the  Semitic  race,  the  Phoenicians,  who 
were  especially  idolatrous  and  sensual,  were  in  advance  of 
the  Jews  in  the  arts  and  sciences.  In  fact,  the  latter  tribe, 
while  their  leaders  were  acting  under  the  highest  inspira- 
tions of  Jahveh,  the  Self-existent,  were  in  an  almost  bar- 
barous condition,  as  many  archaic  customs  show.  It 
would  seem  that  certain  tribes,  like  certain  individuals, 
were  peculiarly  open  to  the  higher  religious  ideas,  and 
received  them  and  lived  on  them  in  a  manner  not  to  be 
expected  from  their  progress  in  other  directions. 

Besides  the  ideas  of  the  unity  and  self-existence  of  God, 
we  find  the  conception  of  this  Being  as  an  all-wise  Power 
of  Righteousness,  and  the  source  of  all  things  good  and 
beautiful ;  he  had  not  left  himself  without  a  witness.  The 
human  mind,  receiving  the  intuition  of  an  intelligent  Being 
at  the  head  of  the  universe,  conceives  him  as  unlimited  in 
all  things,  and  especially  as  perfect  in  the  highest  human 
qualities.  He  becomes  the  essence  of  righteousness  and 
purity,  and  the  type  of  all-embracing  sympathy.  He  is 
the  highest  impersonation  of  the  love  and  justice  of  man; 


REVIEW.  169 

he  embodies  the  ideals  of  humanity.  According  to  the 
moral  ideal  of  Divinity  in  a  given  people  will  be  the  power 
and  permanence  of  their  faith.  The  full  realizing  of  a  per- 
fect divinity,  connected  by  bonds  of  sympathy  with  man, 
involves  the  duty  of  each  person  to  conform  to  his  will, 
and  the  hope  of  likeness  to  him.  Then  naturally  follow 
from  the  goodness  and  justice  of  such  a  Being  the  belief 
in  a  future  life  to  set  right  the  inequalities  of  this,  and  the 
hope  of  happiness  in  more  perfect  union  with  and  likeness 
to  him.  Hence  come  the  ideas  of  a  future  existence,  of 
a  resurrection,  of  a  judgment-day,  and  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments in  the  future.  These  we  have  found  passing 
down  with  more  or  less  distinctness  through  the  history 
of  the  different  races  we  have  briefly  examined. 

There  come  forth  also  among  various  races  a  hope  and 
belief  of  a  human  manifestation  of  the  divine,  of  one  who 
has,  though  of  the  gods,  taken  on  himself  the  form  of 
man,  borne  sins  and  sorrows,  and  sought  everywhere  to 
remove  the  evils  of  humanity.  Sometimes  it  is  a  tradition 
of  one  who  is  past,  sometimes  a  hope  of  one  who  is  to 
come.  If  he  has  been  in  the  world,  his  life  has  been  full 
of  blessings  to  mankind.  He  has  perhaps  been  removed 
by  a  violent  death,  and  now  in  the  unseen  life  watches 
over  his  followers  and  becomes  their  Judge  and  eternal 
Friend.  Or  if  he  is  to  come,  he  will  remove  the  fear  of 
death,  and  will  do  away  with  human  suffering  and  sin. 
Whether  these  beliefs  are  premonitions  of  certain  great 


170  THE   UNKNOWN  COD. 

facts  to  appear  in  the  world's  history,  or  whether  they 
represent  the  necessary  mode  in  which  the  mind  of  man 
embodies  its  hopes  and  moral  beliefs,  is  difficult  to  decide. 
They  form  at  least  an  important  part  of  the  religious  be- 
liefs of  certain  races. 

The  question  here  naturally  arises,  Why  did  these  va- 
rious intuitions  and  revelations  among  the  races  whose 
beliefs  we  have  sketched,  die  out?  Why  has  not  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Egyptians  or  Babylonians  or  Greeks  been 
enduring  in  the  world's  history?  Why  is  it  that  the  faith 
of  a  humble  and  despised  tribe  like  the  Hebrews  still 
rules  in  its  higher  and  later  form  the  civilized  world,  while 
Osiris  and  Istar  and  Zeus  remain  only  as  portions  of  for- 
gotten mythology  or  as  the  characters  of  immortal  poems, 
and  the  faith  which  once  embraced  them  is  known  only 
in  ancient  inscriptions? 

It  is  impossible,  of  course,  to  answer  such  questions 
exactly.  We  know  too  little  of  the  facts  in  each  case. 
The  Egyptian  religion  lasted  longer  than  Christianity  has 
yet  endured.  It  no  doubt  fed  the  hopes  and  aspirations 
of  countless  human  beings  for  several  thousand  years; 
but  it  ran  doubtless  into  pantheism  and  then  into  poly- 
theism and  worship  of  animals,  which  unfitted  it  for  hu- 
man progress.  Its  great  truths  were  too  much  esoteric 
and  confined  to  a  learned  class  to  be  able  to  reach  the 
masses.  The  fact  too  that  these  truths  were  conveyed  in 
difficult  symbols  not  known  to   strangers  would  contract 


REVIEW.  171 

the  range  of  such  a  faith.  Moreover,  the  nation  during 
the  purest  ages  of  this  rehgion  was  under  a  powerful 
priesthood  and  an  absokite  monarchy.  Both  these  human 
conditions  would  tend  to  corrupt  divine  inspirations.  It 
is  possible  that  the  beautiful  myth  of  Osiris  had  no  his- 
torical foundation,  or  with  some  basis  in  fact  was  soon 
converted  into  a  sun-myth.  At  all  events,  there  was  not 
sufficient  reality  in  the  story  to  feed  mankind  after  ages 
had  passed.  The  belief  in  Osiris  lacked  the  simplicity, 
humility,  and  depth  of  Christianity.  It  did  not  contain 
the  wonderful  humanity  and  sympathy  of  the  teachings 
of  Galilee;  it  did  not  reveal  God  as  a  Father.  All  that 
we  know  certainly  is  that  this  ancient  faith  fell  into  the 
grossest  polytheism  and  idolatry,  and  that  its  great  truths 
passed  down  through  other  channels  in  human  history 
and  enriched  mankind  in  far-away  places  and  later  ages. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Egyptian  revelation  probably 
affected  the  mind  of  Moses  and  a  few  of  the  Jews. 
Through  the  Mysteries  and  the  ancient  Greek  faith  it 
passed  down  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  Plato  and 
Socrates  and  Plutarch  show  traces  of  its  influence.  It  can 
hardly  be  doubted  that  through  the  Alexandrians  it  col- 
ored the  expressions  and  forms  of  thought  of  the  Apostle 
John,  and  so  has  mingled  with  Christianity  itself. 

Akkadian  Faith.  —  Of  the  Akkadian  beliefs  we  know 
too  little  to  affirm  or  deny  anything  positive  in  regard  to 
them.     The  translation  of  the  cuneiform  is  yet  too  uncer- 


172  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

tain,  and  the  results  too  limited,  to  enable  us  to  analyze 
with  confidence  these  ancient  faiths  of  the  peoples  on  the 
Euphrates. 

There  are  seemingly  two  distinct  strata  of  population, 

the  ancient  Akkadian  races,  and  the  Assyrian  people  of 

Semitic  origin,  who  perhaps  mingled  with  these  tribes. 
The  older  peoples  are  filled  with  superstition  and  devoted 
to  magical  incantations  and  the  worship  of  elemental 
powers.  They  and  the  Semitic  Assyrians  have  evidently 
drawn  many  of  their  legends  and  beliefs  from  the  same 
source  as  the  Jews;  but  the  tablets  and  cylinders  which 
contain  the  cuneiform  inscriptions,  from  which  all  our  in- 
formation is  drawn  in  regard  to  both,  have  so  mingled  the 
two  classes  of  language  and  the  tAvo  stages  of  thought 
that  it  is  impossible  clearly  to  separate  them.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  the  two  mental  conditions  and  the  two 
modes  of  expression  went  on  side  by  side  for  many  ages. 
One  may  have  been  the  learned  and  official  language,  and 
the  other  the  popular.  The  multitudinous  charms  and 
incantations  and  beliefs  in  the  evil  powers  of  Nature  may 
have  expressed  the  religion  of  the  lowest  classes,  while 
at  the  same  time  the  lofty  psalms  and  prayers  and  spiritual 
petitions  may  have  arisen  from  the  few  devout  and 
faithful. 

The  religious  ideas  commingle  strangely.  The  peni- 
tential psalm  ends  in  a  magical  incantation,  and  the 
superstitious    invocation  to   elemental   demons   rises    into 


REVIEW.  173 

adoration  of  the  One  Infinite  Spirit.  No  doubt  the  future 
scholar,  tracing  the  religious  progress  of  Europe  during 
the  past  fifteen  hundred  years,  will  find  side  by  side  the 
superstitions  of  heathendom  and  the  elevated  conceptions 
of  Christianity.  Such  contradictory  ideas  seem  capable 
of  existing  side  by  side  in  the  popular  mind  during  many 
centuries. 

Wherever  the  Hebrews  were,  there  must  have  been  the 
grand  ideas  they  contributed  to  human  history.  Their 
inspiration  was  a  belief  in  a  personal  spiritual  God  of 
righteousness,  who  governed  the  world  by  the  laws  of 
truth,  justice,  and  mercy.  The  chasm  between  this  faith 
and  the  low,  sensual  mythology  and  polytheism  of  the 
tribes  on  the  Euphrates  was  in  many  instances  world- 
wide. It  is  true  that  numbers  of  the  Jews  wandered  from 
this  belief.  Even  the  father  of  Abraham  was  an  idolater. 
Yet  ever  in  the  line  of  descent  appeared  some  new  man 
or  woman  inspired  with  the  grandest  thought  that  can 
enter  the  human  breast,  —  the  belief  in  the  One,  infinite, 
all-knowing,  all-loving.  Abraham  himself,  one  of  the 
greatest  figures  on  the  stage  of  history,  received  this  in- 
spiration. He  rose  above  the  elemental  worship  of  the 
Akkadians  around  him;  he  would  not,  with  his  Semitic 
brethren,  "behold  the  sun  when  it  shined,  or  the  moon 
walking  in  brightness,"  ^  and  permit  his  "  heart  to  be 
secretly  enticed,"  and  his  "  mouth  to  kiss  his  hand,"  for 
1  Job  xxxi.  2(^28. 


174  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

that  "were  an  iniquity  to  be  punished,"  and  he  would 
have  "  denied  the  God  that  is  above."  All  the  pantheon 
of  Assyrian  gods  were  to  him  but  as  evil  spirits,  or  sub- 
ordinate powers  under  the  infinite  Jahveh.  So  he  left 
kindred  and  country  to  hold  forth  these  ideas  to  the 
world, -^ 

The  Akkadian  races  seem  to  have  been  touched  with 
the  same  inspirations  which  reached  the  Hebrews  as  to 
a  righteous  God,  and  sins  against  his  will  and  law.  The 
psalms  we  have  quoted  show  the  same  profound  feel- 
ing of  spiritual  purity  and  impurity,  and  the  same  sense 
of  a  God  of  rightness,  as  do  the  psalms  of  the  Jews. 
They  must  have  come  from  the  same  Semitic  source. 
How  this  spiritual  life  faded  away,  we  know  not.  Many 
of  the  races  in  that  part  of  Asia  fell  early  into  sensuality 
and  gross  polytheism.  Their  religions  seemed  to  contain 
httle  that  was  permanent  and  spiritual.  Sensualism  de- 
voured them.  Those  races  were  visited  by  the  angels  of 
truth  and  purity  (as  these  Akkadian  psalms  show),  but 
they  received  them  not. 

It  is  probable  that  the  belief  in  one  God  was  not  suffi- 
ciently distinct  and  powerful  to  penetrate  deeply  even  the 
leaders  of  the  Akkadian  people.  Their  peculiar  faith  in 
certain  gods  did  indeed  reach  the  classic  peoples.  But 
their  monotheism  and  deep  spiritual  intuitions  probably 
alone  survived  in  Abraham  and  his  people,  who  were 
^  Acts  vii.  3. 


RE  VIE IV.  175 

allied  to  the  conquering  nation  of  Babylonia.  Yet  with 
the  "Father  of  the  Faithful"  there  must  have  been  indi- 
vidual inspirations  and  revelations  which  separated  him 
from  his  superstitious  kindred,  and  finally  drove  him  out 
"beyond  the  river"  to  found  the  highest  religion  known 
to  man. 

One  cause  of  the  passing  away  of  many  ancient  faiths, 
as  contrasted  with  the  endurance  of  the  Jewish,  we  believe 
to  be  the  inferiority  of  form  of  their  sacred  writings  as 
compared  with  our  sacred  Scriptures.  Many  of  the  holy 
writings  of  the  past,  like  the  Egyptian,  Chaldean,  and 
others,  were  in  a  mysterious  or  learned  language.  It  was 
one  unknown  to  the  masses,  or  only  employed  by  schol- 
ars, or  difficult  for  strangers  to  learn.  Then  the  rhetorical 
form  of  nearly  all  these  litanies  and  records  and  psalms 
is  singularly  defective.  Even  the  Akkadian  is  mixed  with 
an  immense  proportion  of  chaff.  The  Egyptian  is  equally 
faulty,  and  at  times  apparently  compounded  with  rub- 
bish. The  Iranian  or  Zoroastrian  religious  literature  (as 
we  shall  note),  though  unsurpassed  in  its  elevated  and  pure 
religious  tone,  is  immensely  inferior  to  the  Bible  in  its  sim- 
ple, poetic,  vigorous  style.  The  laws  of  the  highest  expres- 
sion seemed  to  be  unknown  to  these  ancient  races.  And 
yet  a  half-nomadic,  and  later  a  very  plain  agricultural 
tribe,  like  the  Hebrews,  without  learning  or  culture,  is 
found  uttering  words  which  mankind  cannot  let  die, — 
which,  after  three  thousand  years  of  advancing  civiliza- 


176  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

tion,  is  still  the  highest  and  purest  expression  of  its  hopes 
and  fears  and  moral  aspirations.  No  doubt  the  spiritual 
inspiration  of  the  Jews  touched  their  faculties  of  imagina- 
tion and  expression,  and  the  lofty  truths  with  which  they 
were  imbued  ennobled  their  language  and  simplified  their 
thought. 

No  utterance  of  religious  emotion  has  ever  equalled 
that  of  the  Psalms  and  of  David.  No  words  of  seer  and 
popular'  teacher  have  ever  been  so  grand  and  inspiring 
as  those  attributed  to  Isaiah.  And  dramatic  poetry  con- 
tains nothing  more  sublime,  eloquent,  and  elevating  than 
the  ancient  dialogues  of  the  Book  of  Job. 

It  is  no  doubt  difficult  to  make  some  of  the  psalms 
attributed  to  David  harmonize  with  what  the  Bible  re- 
lates of  his  life.  Still,  ancient  popular  traditions  as  to 
the  authorship  of  poems  and  sacred  songs  are  to  be 
treated  with  great  respect  by  the  historical  scholar. 
Moreover,  in  a  wild,  semi-barbarous  tribe  like  the  Jews 
there  Avill  always  be  found  great  inconsistencies  in  indi- 
vidual characters.  The  profound  conviction  of  Jahveh 
as  a  God  of  righteousness,  and  an  intense  feeling  of  sin 
as  an  off"ence  against  him,  might  well  be  united  with  wild 
passions  and  barbarous  bursts  of  anger  and  hate.  The 
one  influence  might  for  a  time  overcome  the  other,  and 
the  poetic  nature  express  each  ruling  feeling  in  appropri- 
ate language.  Many  of  the  moulds  of  expression  in  the 
psalms,  whether  of  David  or  others,  had  been  transmitted 


REVIEW.  177 

probably  from  the  ancient  Akkadians.  They  were  the 
fitting  words  which  the  intense  behevcrs  in  Jahvch  as  a 
God  of  righteousness  had  in  all  ages  of  the  Semitic  race 
used  in  prayer  and   hymn. 

Gi'eek  Mysteries.  —  These  ancient  secret  associations,  it 
is  quite  evident,  taught  some  of  the  great  truths  which 
their  members  had  received  from  Egyptian  priests.  There 
is  clearly  implied  in  the  accounts  we  receive  of  their  doc- 
trines, the  ancient  belief  of  the  priests  on  the  Nile  in  an 
original  and  self-existent  Creator,  in  a  continued  life  after 
death,  and  a  future  moral  judgment.  But  it  is  doubtful 
if  these  truths  were  held  by  any  but  the  leaders  of  these 
societies,  or  if  they  ever  influenced  in  any  profound  degree 
the  masses  of  the  members.  Roman  and  Greek  habits 
and  practices  were  certainly  very  little  affected  by  them. 
As  we  have  before  said,  these  truths  were  probably  taught 
symbolically  or  dramatically,  so  that  the  ignorant  and 
thoughtless  did  not  grasp  them,  and  they  were  not  illus- 
trated by  any  historical  life  or  by  any  real  or  supposed 
divine  manifestation.  They  were  simply  strange  and  grand 
beliefs  taught  to  the  multitude  under  mysterious  forms 
and  poetic  symbols.  The  secret  character,  too,  of  these 
ante-Christian  churches  tended  gradually  to  abuses,  and 
they  at  last  ended  in  orgies  of  lust  and  meetings  for  the 
most  sensual  indulgence.  Even  Plato  finally  could  only 
speak  of  them  with  contempt. 

The  Greek  Faith  in  Zeus.  —  It  may  not  perhaps  be  dis- 


178  THE    UNKNOWN  COD. 

tinctly  enough  remembered,  amid  the  beautiful  expressions 
we  have  culled  from  early  Greek  poets  and  dramatists  and 
thinkers  as  to  the  spiritual  Zeus,  or  God,  that  this  faith 
went  on  side  by  side  with  a  very  different  conception. 
A  low  mythology  and  high  spiritual  religion  seem  to  be 
capable  of  coexisting  in  the  human  mind,  as  has  been 
abundantly  shown  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church. 
The  Zeus  of  the  Pelasgians  and  early  Greeks,  of  the 
Orphic  Hymns  and  of  Cleanthes,  is  no  more  different 
from  the  Zeus  of  Homer  and  Hesiod,  than  are  the  Christ 
and  God  of  Paul  and  John  from  those  of  the  legends  of 
the  Christian  Church  of  the  seventh  century. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  myth-making  fancy,  the 
majestic  figure  of  the  spiritual  Zeus  sitting  on  the  clouds 
of  heaven  changed  into  that  of  a  dissolute  and  unresting 
ruler  engaged  in  the  most  base  transactions  and  sensual 
amours.  Even  by  the  same  poet  he  is  pictured  as  the 
cloud-compelling  spirit  of  the  air,  and  as  the  rake  and  • 
petty  tyrant  of  a  celestial  household.  It  was  plainly  the 
myth-making  fancy  which  degraded  the  lofty  ideals  of 
ancient  Greek  faith.  Perhaps  there  was  nowhere  in  Greek 
annals  so  plain  a  historic  manifestation  of  the  Infinite 
Spirit  as  to  control  the  wild  imagination  of  the  Greeks ;  or 
perhaps  the  sensual  tendencies  of  the  race  overpowered 
the  spiritual  aspirations,  and  the  transmitted  inspirations 
of  ancient  thinkers  and  saints.  Clearly,  the  Greek  faith  in 
Zeus  could  not  elevate  the  race  above  its  passions  and 


REVIEW.  179 

selfishness,  and   so    at   last   failed    to    promote    its   moral 
progress. 

T/u'  Religion  of  Plato  and  Socrates.  — i:\i&  ideals  of 
these  great  thinkers  contained  some  of  the  grandest 
truths  revealed  to  the  human  mind.  There  was  certainly 
enough  in  them  to  inspire  life  and  ennoble  death.  But 
they  lacked  a  historical  background;  and  though  both 
Plato  and  Socrates  used  the  ancient  myths  for  moral 
lessons,  it  was  with  but  a  half  belief  in  their  reality. 
The  current  and  popular  mythology  was  repugnant  to 
both.  Socrates  expressed  the  hope  that  somewhere,  even 
among  the  barbarians,  some  one  would  arise  who  could 
charm  away  the  fear  of  death  from  the  soul  of  man,  and 
so  bring  "  immortality  to  light."  It  is  of  course  possible 
that  he  had  heard  of  the  Jewish  or  Persian  hopes  of  a 
Redeemer.  He  felt  the  need  of  such  a  divine  manifes- 
tation. Plato,  too,  longed  for  a  nearer  revelation  of  God. 
Spiritually  he  had  received  the  most  profound  conception 
of  God ;  and  philosophically  he  sustained  these  ideas  by 
the  most  ingenious  course  of  reasoning.  Yet  his  God  was 
far  away,  and  did  not  enough  control  the  selfishness  of 
the  soul.  It  was  not  sufficiently  a  God  of  love  and  sym- 
pathy. The  consequence  was,  with  these  great  thinkers, 
that  their  theories  of  human  society,  and  to  a  certain  de- 
gree their  practice,  was  not  in  the  highest  direction  of 
purity  and  unselfishness.  There  was  a  stain  of  sensuality 
in  their  most  beautiful  ideals. 


l80  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

The  highest  dreams  of  Plato  of  the  Divine  Beauty 
were  united  with  theories  of  such  unnatural  human  rela- 
tions and  such  degrading  fancies  that  they  are  utterly 
incomprehensible  to  the  modern  reader.^  Compared  with 
the  purity  of  the  Zoroastrian  faith  these  ideas  seem,  at 
one  point  of  view,  sensuality  itself.  But  in  all  these 
matters  custom  and  habit  have  a  singular  and  almost 
absolute  power  on  the  human  mind. 

The  God  of  Socrates  and  Plato  was  too  cold  and  stern 
to  be  the  God  of  the  multitude ;  and  their  morals  lacked 
the  highest  elements,  —  even  unselfish  love  and  childlike 
purity.  Their  noble  views  and  elevated  philosophy  en- 
tered into  the  Christian  history,  and  deeply  afifected  man- 
kind through  prominent  Christian  thinkers;  but  as  a 
separate  system  of  faith  and  practice  it  has  ceased  pro- 
foundly to  influence  human  progress. 

We  have  sufficiently  shown  why  the  sublime  faith  of  the 
Stoics,  though  continuing  for  some  eight  hundred  years, 
at  last  failed  to  satisfy  the  human  mind.  The  truths  on 
which  they  lived  are  still  the  support  of  pious  souls  in 
hours  of  pain  and  despondence.  Even  now,  the  devout 
Christian  in  his  utmost  trial  has  no  philosophical  truth 
more  comforting  and  strengthening  than  that  the  structure 
of  the  moral  universe  makes  for  righteousness ;  that  to  be 
in  harmony  with  it  and  the  Divine  mind  which  inspires  it 
^  See  the  Symposium. 


REVIEW.  l8l 

is  his  highest  attainment ;  that  the  most  complete  health 
and  sanity  of  the  soul  is  in  truth  and  disinterested  love ; 
and  that  the  Maker  and  Contriver  of  such  a  universe  must 
be  of  hke  nature.  But  in  addition  to  these  philosophic 
truths  is  granted  to  the  Christian  a  revelation  of  the  Divine 
Being  which  forever  strengthens  him  in  his  efforts  "  to  live 
in  harmony  with  the  universe  and  its  Creator,"  and  should 
save  him  from  the  errors  and  follies  of  the  Stoics. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

ZOROASTRIANISM. 

What  reward  thou  hast  given  to  those  of  the  same  law  as  thyself,  O  Lord,  All- 
knowing,  that  give  thou  to  us  !  May  we  attain  to  that ;  namely,  union  with  thy 
purity  for  all  eternity  I  —  Zend- A  VESTA,  Yagna  xi. 

'nr^HE  early  Iranian,  the  forefather  of  the  Mede  and 
the  Persian,  looked  at  the  problems  of  the  universe 
from  a  point  of  view  somewhat  different  from  anything 
among  early  peoples  we  have  thus  far  contemplated.  He 
saw  clearly  the  two  sides  of  the  world :  the  bright  morn- 
ing, the  cheerful  sun  and  the  light,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  clouds,  gloomy  mist,  storm,  and  dark  night 
which  swallowed  these  up ;  the  green  meadows,  bright 
flowers,  rose-tinged  mountains,  rich  leafy  valleys  and 
groves  and  fields,  and,  on  the  other  side,  the  waste  swamp, 
the  desert,  the  stern  crag  and  desolate  rock,  and  dark, 
storm-beaten  heights.  He  felt  the  genial  rays  of  the  sun, 
and  the  biting,  resistless  frost.  He  noted  the  graceful  and 
useful  animals  of  creation,  the  birds,  the  kine,  the  deer, 
the  horse,  and  the  beaver,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
serpents,  the  parasites,  poisonous  insects,  vermin,  hideous 
crawling  creatures,  and  wild,  savage  beasts  of  nature.  He 
found  many  existences,  as  it  were,  half  formed  and  im- 


ZOROA  S  TRIA  NTSM.  1 8  3 

perfectly  planned,  whose  lives  seemed  only  made  for 
misery.  Ravin  and  relentless  struggle  seemed  to  him  the 
law  of  nature  beneath  man.  In  the  world  of  humanity  he 
found  sweetness  and  unselfishness,  and  love  and  truth  and 
heroism,  on  one  side,  and  again  on  the  other,  greed  and 
selfishness,  and  hate  and  deceit  and  baseness.  Health 
and  sickness  were  offset  to  one  another  everywhere, 
plenty  and  poverty,  happiness  and  misery,  cheerfulness 
and  sorrow.  And  the  greatest  contrast  of  all  checkered 
the  universe  with  alternate  bands  of  gleaming  light  and 
the  blackest  night,  —  the  profound  and  tremendous  facts 
of  holiness  and  sin,  of  moral  good  and  moral  evil,  of  pure 
beings  and  malignant  beings ;  and  beyond  this  life  he  be- 
lieved the  like  contrast  to  endure  while  time  should  last,  — 
of  Paradise  and  Hell. 

The  ancient  Iranian  believed  in  the  Ahura  Mazda,  or 
Ormazd,  the  "  Lord  All-knowing."  He  was  the  creator 
of  asJia}  or  righteousness,  and  he  could  not  create  evil. 
He  was  the  pure  one,  and  could  not  make  impurity;  he 
loved  beauty  and  order  and  happiness.  It  was  not  in  him 
to  create  things  ugly  and  hateful,  and  disordered  and  ma- 
lignant. He  was  Mazda,  the  spirit  of  all  knowledge,  and 
could  not  call  into  being  creatures  that  were  half-formed, 
and  useless  in  their  end  and  object;  he  was  the  essence 
of  asha,   or   righteousness,   and    could   not,   of  necessity, 

^  Asha, — purity,  moral  order,  the  universe  of  righteousness  (Dar- 
mesteter). 


1 84  THE   UNKNOWN  COD. 

make  sin  or  sinful  beings.  He,  as  the  Healer,^  Protector, 
Lover  of  all,  did  not  create  sickness  and  sorrow  and  pain. 
The  Lord  of  Life  could  not  bring  death  into  the  world; 
and  the  Best  Spirit  of  all  could  not  be  the  Father  of  the 
wicked  spirits.  The  Heaven-God,  dwelling  resplendent  in 
infinite  luminous  space,  could  not  bring  forth  Hell,  the 
place  of  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death. 

The  ancient  Iranian,  reasoning  thus,  struck  upon  the 
conception,  rare  in  the  annals  of  human  thought,  but  most 
natural,  of  two  contending  Powers  in  the  universe.  But  as 
day  precedes  the  night,  or  the  clear  sky  the  storm,  so  the 
Good  Power  was  before  the  Evil  Power,  and  would  be 
after  him.  The  two  principles,  Ahura  Mazda,  or  Ormazd, 
and  Angra  Mainyou,  or  Ahriman,  or  Satan,  contend  for 
the  universe.  All  nature  and  eternity  divide  themselves 
between  these  two  masters.  To  the  Good  belong  light 
and  beauty,  all  trees  and  flowers  and  growths  that  are 
sweet  and  useful,  all  animals  beloved  of  man,  all  health 
and  harmony,  all  purity  and  order  and  virtue,  all  things 
that  make  for  peace  and  goodness,  all  the  glory  and  hap- 
piness of  the  world.  To  him,  the  flowing  waters  and 
fleecy  clouds  and  cheerful  sunlight  and  rich  harvests.  To 
Ormazd  also  the  stars  (as  opposed  to  the  uncertain  and 
malignant  planets),  the  sun,  the  spirits  of  the  just  and 
pure,  the  gods  of  virtue  and  piety,  and  eternal  life  in  the 
regions  of  the  blessed. 

^  See  different  Yashts. 


ZOROASTRIANISM.  1 85 

To  Ahriman,  or  Satan,  belong  the  night  and  darkness, 
the  frost  and  storm,  hail  and  snow,  the  desert  and  marsh, 
the  poisonous  creatures,  vermin,  noxious  serpents  and  in- 
sects, the  wild  beasts  of  the  desert.  His  are  the  plague 
and  sickness,^  want  and  poverty,  wounds  and  deformities, 
wasting  and  death  among  men.  Dear  to  him  are  lies  and 
lusts  and  sins;  his  are  calumnies  and  slander  and  doubt. 
He  controls  all  the  devas,  or  demons,  of  pestilence  and  de- 
ceit and  passion  and  crime  that  afflict  humanity.  His  are 
the  hostile  planets,  and  the  awful  abode  of  darkness  and 
woe  beyond  life.  The  power  of  Ahriman  is  especially  in  the 
lie ;  his  Dntgs  are  spirits  of  deceit,  while  of  Ormazd  it  is 
said,  "  He  is  Truth."  ^  Yima,  the  fallen  spirit  who  some- 
times seems  the  original  Ahriman,  falls  through  a  lie,  and 
"  his  glory  [the  truth]  was  seen  leaving  him  in  the  like- 
ness of  a  beautiful  bird."  ^ 

It  is  true  that  the  division  of  nature  between  the  two 
Powers  is  somewhat  confused  by  the  influences  of  my- 
thology, so  that  the  most  sacred  animal  to  Ormazd,  whose 
death  brings  immeasurable  punishments  on  the  murderer, 
is  a  water-dog,  or  beaver,  while  two  creatures  given  to 
Ahriman  are  the  innocent  frog  and  the  industrious  ant 
But,  in  general,  the  separations  are  according  to  the 
relations  of  each  part  to  light  and  darkness,  purity  and 

1  The  99,999  diseases,  say  the  sacred  writings,  which  afflict  human- 
ity, are  from  Ahriman,  and  the  deformed  are,  even  as  the  vicious,  ex- 
cluded from  the  holy  sacrifices. 

2  Yasht.  3  Yasht. 


1 86  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

impurity,  good  and  evil.  The  contrast  between  these  two 
mighty  spirits  goes  on  through  all  space  and  time. 

Ahura  Mazda  has  created  good,  or  righteousness,  and 
all  beings  who  maintain  and  develop  righteousness.  On 
the  other  hand,  Ahriman  has  made  all  those  who  would 
destroy  the  works  of  righteousness.  The  final  end  of 
the  life  of  the  world  is  to  bring  about  the  expulsion  of 
evil,  and  the  eternal  reign  of  life  and  good.^  The  man 
who  aids  this  is  the  man  of  righteousness ;  he  who  op- 
poses it  is  a  demon,  or  enemy  of  righteousness.  If  the 
good  man  is  a  priest,  his  weapon  is  prayer ;  if  a  warrior, 
he  draws  his  sword  against  the  infidels  alone ;  if  a  laborer, 
his  great  weapon  is  the  plentiful  harvest.  Whoever  culti- 
vates grain,  cultivates  the  law  of  the  Lord  Omniscient, 
and  enriches  it  with  what  is  equal  to  a  hundred  sacrifices. 
The  demons  shriek  when  good  crops  spring  from  the 
ground,  for  they  know  that  men  cannot  practise  piety 
without  food.  The  pious  man  is  he  who  gives  clothing 
to  the  naked,  and  who  founds  virtuous  families.  To  in- 
crease the  world  of  righteousness  is  the  supreme  end  of 
human  life. 

The  good  man  is  called  the  "increaser;  "  and  the  final 
Saviour  of  the  world,  who  shall  make  eternal  the  life  and 
reign  of  good,  is  especially  the  Increaser.^ 

The  great  inspiration  of  Mazdseism  for  the  world  is  its 
exaltation  of  truth.  Humanity  is  not  inculcated  towards 
^  Darmestetcr :   Ormazd  and  Ahriman.  ^  Coshyos. 


ZOROASTRIANISM.  1 87 

the  infidel;  but  even  to  the  infidel  truth  must  ever  be 
observed,  for  Ahura  Mazda  is  the  Light,  and  light  is 
Truth.  By  truth  man  resembles  the  Lord  All-knowing; 
the  lie  is  demoniac,  even  when  uttered  for  a  good  end. 
"  The  man  of  truth  shall  be  more  resplendent  than  the 
sun ;  the  man  of  a  lie  gocth  straightway  to  the  Demon 
whence  he  cometh."  Ahriman  is  the  god  of  lies,  and  is 
manifested  as  a  serpent,  the  creature  of  deceit,  whom 
on  the  "day  of  immortality  "  the  Savicur  is  to  destroy. 

Ormazd  being  Truth  itself  is  never  deceived ;  he  seeth 
all  things ;  he  observeth  without  dream,  without  intoxica- 
tion.i  He  cannot  be  deceived,  is  infallible.  He  is  like 
unto  the  light  in  his  body  and  the  truth  in  his  soul. 

The  Iranian  felt  himself  in  an  inexorable  logical  di- 
lemma in  regard  to  this  pure  and  perfect  Being.  If  he 
was  perfectly  good  he  could  not  originate  evil ;  if  he  was 
all-powerful  he  could  not  permit  its  existence.  The  con- 
clusion which  the  old  Persian  reached  was  that  the  power 
of  Ormazd  was  limited.  Accordingly  in  the  Avesta  there 
are  appeals  from  the  Lord  Omniscient  to  powerful  {fra- 
vashi)  spirits,^  on  whose  aid  he  depends  in  the  work  of 
creation  and  administration.  At  times  he  seems  but  one 
of  the  seven  Blessed  Immortals  (^Amcsha  spent  as)  who 
govern  the  universe.  He  was  in  boundless  time  before 
Ahriman,  and  he  continues  after  the  disappearance  of 
the  Evil  Spirit;  but  according  to  certain  traditions  the 
1  Vend.,  xix.  68.  ^  See  Yagna  xliii.,  and  others. 


1 88  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

struggle  between  them  is  long,  and  various  in  success, 
there  being  first  a  period  when  Ahriman  is  conquered, 
then  an  age  of  evil  when  the  light  of  Orniazd  is  obscured, 
and  then  an  age  of  final  victory  for  the  truth. 

As  with  so  many  races,  the  original  conception  of  the 
Iranian  God  was  of  a  Heaven-God,  a  Zeus,  a  Father  in 
Heaven,  a  Being  glorious,  bright,  pure,  seen  from  afar,  his 
body  like  unto  light  itself,  the  purest  of  all  bodies ;  the 
sun  his  eye,  the  lightning  his  creation,  who  weareth  the 
heavens  as  a  star-decked  garment,  and  who  dwelleth  in 
the  boundless  light-space.^  Even  in  the  time  of  Herodo- 
tus the  Persians  called  the  whole  vault  of  heaven  Zeus,  or 
the  Supreme  God.  Gradually  the  unity  of  this  Being 
formed  itself  in  the  minds  of  the  ancient  Iranians,  and 
was  settled  in  the  fifth  century  before  Christ.  No  doubt 
Herodotus  heard  from  the  ancient  Magi  the  same  prayers 
and  liturgies  sung  as  those  we  shall  quote  from,  and  as 
the  Medes  and  Persians  had  heard  for  ages  before  in 
old  Persian,  and  had  preserved  in  their  Zend-Avesta,  or 
"  Commentary  on  the  Law."  ^  At  that  period  the  Ahura 
Mazda,  or  Lord  All-knowing,  had  become  the  father  and 
creator  of  the  world  and  of  light,  the  giver  of  life  and 
father  of  gods,  and  of  the  tree  of  eternal  life,  and  of  the 


1  Vend.,  V.  59. 

2  Zend-Avesta,  p.  30,  Darmesteter.  Zend  is  Commentary  ;  Avesta 
(abasta,  old  Persian),  Law.  The  texts  were  written  originally  in 
Media,  and  were  promulgated  circ.  325-330  A.D. 


ZOROA  STRIA  jV/SJf.  1 89 

six  undying  holy  spirits,  who  seem  then  only  abstract 
conceptions  of  good  qualities. 

The  inscriptions  of  Darius  (circ.  521  B.C.)  show  a  faith 
in  a  moral  Governor  and  Creator.  "  Let  man,"  says  one, 
"  go  on  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord  Omniscient. 
He  is  thy  deliverer.  Leave  not  the  straight  way;  sin  not; 
keep  thyself  from  violence."  ^  It  is  he  (Ormazd)  who 
hath  made  this  earth  and  heaven  and  all  men ;  gods  are 
created  by  him.^  Man  is  in  his  hand;  to  his  will  kings 
owe  their  crown.  It  is  he  who  hath  made  Darius  and 
Xerxes.  Ormazd  brings  me  succor;  by  the  grace  of 
Ahura  Mazda  (Ormazd)   I  conquer.^ 

The  final  conclusion  of  the  struggle  between  the  two 
spirits  is  thus  given  in  the  Gathas,  or  Psalms  of  the 
Avesta :  — 

"  When  at  the  end,  as/ia  [righteousness]  shall  have  cast  down 
Satan  [Drug]  ;  when  in  the  day  of  immortality  shall  have  been 
made  that  final  separation  between  mortals  and  demons  which 
hath  been  lyingly  denied  by  infidels,  then  will  mount  upwards 
towards  thee  a  mighty  hymn  of  praise  and  adoration,  O  Lord  !  "  * 

The  teachings  of  truth  and  honesty  in  the  Zoroastrian 
faith,  and  based  upon  religion,  left  a  profound  impression 
upon  the  Persian  character,  as  all  ancient  historians  agree. 
The  follower  of  Zoroaster  was  pre-eminent  for  truthfulness. 

1  Duncker:  Ges.  d.  Alter.,  ii.  344. 

2  Ins.  of  Elvend.     Darmesteter. 

8  Persian  Inscription.     Darmesteter.     Ormazd  is  the  Parsee  form 
of  the  name,  as  is  also  Ahriman  of  that  of  the  Evil  Spirit. 
4  Yasht47,  i. 


190  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

And  without  doubt  the  Mazdean  conception  of  purity,  or 
righteousness,  as  the  moral  foundation  of  the  universe,  and 
the  essence  of  God  himself,  did  leave  a  permanent  stamp 
upon  the  world.  It  seems  one  of  the  divine  inspirations. 
The  doctrines  of  Satan,  the  adversary  of  the  Highest,  and 
of  demons,  of  bodily  resurrection  with  a  final  judgment  of 
souls,  in  all  probability  entered  the  Jewish  mind  from  these 
sources,  and  meeting  similar  beliefs,  were  incorporated 
with  them  in  the  Jewish  history.  They  may  all  rest 
on  divine  inspirations,  partially  understood,  which  were 
granted  to  many  races;  or  they  may  be  the  necessary 
modes  of  view  which  the  human  mind  takes  of  great 
moral  truths,  and  logical  inferences  from  these  views. 
They  seem  some  of  the  most  remarkable  mental  inheri- 
tances of  the  race. 

The  conception  of  a  duality  of  powers  in  the  world  is 
a  most  natural  one,  and  has  very  powerful  supports  in  the 
apparent  structure  of  the  universe.  Still,  it  could  not 
satisfy  the  heart  or  intellect  of  mankind,  and  soon  ended 
in  gross  superstitions.  At  the  very  time  of  the  highest 
bloom  of  the  Mazdean  dogma  the  Jews  held  firmly  to 
the  belief  in  a  God  who  had  created  all  things  and  all 
beings,  who  had  no  equal,  and  no  adversary  other  than 
he  permitted. 

The  same  difference  in  form  is  found  between  the  sacred 
writings  of  the  Jews  and  of  the  Persians  which  we  have 
noted  between  the  Jews  and  the  Chaldees,  and  which  no 


ZOROASTRIANISM.  I91 

doubt  has  affected  their  power  upon  different  generations 
of  men.  The  Iranian  revelations  are  filled  with  crudities 
and  repetitions,  and  only  occasionally  convey  truths  with 
that  simplicity  and  directness  which  cause  them  never  to 
be  forgotten.  The  sublime  poetry  of  the  Hebrew  writings 
seems  absent  from  those  of  the  ancient  Persians,  though 
the  moral  conception  is  often  quite  as  high.  The  Avesta 
reads  like  a  collection  of  childish  sayings  about  themes 
too  grand  for  the  writers ;  and  even  so  beautiful  an  alle- 
gory as  that  of  the  maiden  representing  conscience  in  a 
future  life  (which  we  give  later)  is  marred  by  infantile 
repetitions.  The  soul  of  the  Hebrew  seems  to  have  been 
more  open  to  divine  inspirations,  and  thus  his  intellect 
reported  them  with  more  perfect  simplicity  and  in  a 
higher  ideal  form.  The  form  in  which  human  thought 
is  conveyed  certainly  has  much  to  do  with  the  permanence 
of  its  influence. 

Moreover,  anything  approaching  the  idea  of  two  gods 
in  the  universe  leads  immediately  to  gross  superstitions 
and  a  wild  mythology.  The  unity  and  grandeur  of  a  pure 
religion  are  lost.  The  ideal  object  of  the  soul's  worship 
passes  away.  No  doubt  the  teachings  in  regard  to  purity 
and  truth  in  this  faith  left  an  impress  on  the  Iranian  race 
which  lasted  long;  but  the  religion  as  a  power  died  at 
length  completely  away,  and  only  holds  sway  now  over 
a  few  thousands  of  human  beings.^ 

^  The  Parsees  in  India. 


> 


192  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 


The  Sacred  Zoroastrian  Teachings. 

Charity.  —  "  The  law  of  the  Lord  will  not  deliver  thee  unto  pain. 
Thou  art  entreated  for  charity  by  the  whole  living  world,  and  she  is 
ever  standing  at  thy  door  in  the  person  of  thy  brethren  in  the 
faith ;  beggars  ever  stand  at  tlie  door  of  the  stranger  begging  for 
bread.  Ever  will  that  bread  [refused]  be  burning  coals  on  thy 
head."  ^ 

"  He,  O  Zoroaster,  who  tilling  the  earth  would  not  piously  and 
kindly  give  to  one  of  the  faithful,  he  shall  fall  down  into  the  dark- 
ness of  the  Earth-Spirit,  down  into  the  world  of  woe,  the  dismal 
realm,  down  into  the  house  of  hell."  ^ 

Conscience  after  Death.  —  "  At  the  end  of  the  third  night  [after 
death],  when  the  dawn  appeareth,  it  seemeth  to  the  soul  of  the 
faithful  one  as  if  it  were  conveyed  amid  plants  and  scents ;  it 
seemeth  as  if  a  wind  were  blowing  from  the  regions  of  the  south, 
a  sweet-scented  wind,  sweeter  scented  than  any  other  wind  in  the 
world.  .  .  .  Now  it  seemeth  to  him  as  if  there  were  advancing 
towards  him  in  that  wind  the  form  of  a  maiden,  fair,  bright,  white- 
armed,  strong,  tall-formed,  high-standing,  noble,  of  a  glorious  race, 
as  fair  as  the  fairest  things  in  the  world.  And  as  the  soul  of  the 
faithful  one  spake  unto  her,  saying,  '  What  maiden  art  thou,  who  art 
the  fairest  maid  I  have  ever  looked  upon  ? '  she  answered  him,  '  O 
thou  youth  of  good  thoughts,  good  words,  works,  and  religion,  I 
am  thine  own  conscience  !  Every  one  did  love  thee  for  that  great- 
ness, goodness,  fairness,  sweetness,  victorious  strength,  and  free- 
dom from  sorrow  in  which  I  appear  to  thee.  When  thou  sawest 
a  man  making  derision  [of  holy  things],  and  doing  works  of  idol- 
atry, or  rejecting  the  poor,  and  shutting  the  door  to  the  poor, 
then  thou  didst  sit,  singing  psalms  and  worshipping  the  son  of 
the  Lord,  and  with  alms  rejoicing  the  faithful  from  near  and  from 
far.     I  was  lovely  and  thou  madest  me  still  more  lovely.     I  was 

^  Vistasp.  Yasht :   Darmesteter,  p.  338. 
2  Vend.  Farg.,  iii.  15. 


ZOROASTRIANISM.  1 93 

fair  and  thou  madest  me  still  more  desirable  .  .  .  through  that 
good  speech,  thought,  and  deed  of  thine.  And  so  henceforth 
men  worship  me  for  having  long  had  converse  with  the  Lord 
Omniscient.  .  .  .  The  first  step  that  the  soul  of  the  faithful 
man  made  did  place  him  in  the  Paradise  of  Good  Thoughts ; 
the  second  in  the  Paradise  of  Good  Words ;  the  third  in  the 
Paradise  of  Good  Deeds ;  and  the  fourth  in  the  Paradise  of 
Endless  Light.'  .  .  . 

"  One  of  the  faithful  ones  who  had  departed  before  him  asked 
him,  *  How  didst  thou  depart  this  life,  thou  holy  one  .  .  .  from 
the  decaying  world  into  the  undecaying  one  ?  How  long  did  thy 
felicity  last?'  And  the  Lord  All-knowing  said;  'Ask  him  not 
what  thou  askest  him,  who  hath  just  trod  the  dreary  path,  full  of 
fear  and  distress,  where  the  body  and  soul  part  from  one  another. 
Let  him  eat  of  the  food  set  before  him,  of  the  cream  of  the  spring. 
This  is  the  food  for  the  youth  of  good  thoughts,  words,  and  deeds 
after  he  hath  departed  life.'  "  ^ 

A  corresponding  picture  is  presented  of  the  wicked 
meeting  his  bad  conscience  in  the  future  Hfe. 

The  Creator.  —  Zoroaster  asks  of  Ahura  Mazda  :  "-  "  Who  is  the 
Father  of  the  universe?  Who  hath  made  their  path  for  the  sun 
and  the  stars  ?  Who  causeth  the  moon  to  wax  and  wane  ?  Who 
hath  founded  the  earth,  and  the  stars  not  floating  [fixed]  ? 
Who  hath  given  their  course  to  the  winds  and  clouds?  Who, 
.0  wise  one,  is  the  creator  of  good  thoughts  ?  What  skilful  de- 
signer hath  made  the  light  and  darkness ;  who  the  dream  and  the 
awakening?  By  whom  go  forth  the  morning,  the  noon,  and  the 
night  ?  .  .  .  These  are  what  I  ask  of  thee.  Lord  Omniscient, 
Creator  of  all  things." 

"  O  thou  who  maintainest  forever  the  Law  of  Asha  [righteous- 
ness] and  the  good  thoughts,  thou  Lord  All-knowing,  teach  me  of 

^  Yasht  xxii.  2  y^^na  xliii. 

13 


194  THE   UNKNOWN  COD. 

thy  intelligence  and  thy  lips,  that  I  may  say  it  in  thy  name,  how  the 
world  begins  !  "  ' 

Llnion  with  God.  —  "  What  reward  thou  hast  given  to  those  of 
the  same  law  as  thyself,  O  Lord  Omniscient,  that  give  also  to  us 
for  this  world  and  the  next.  May  we  attain  to  that ;  namely,  union 
with  thy  purity  for  all  eternity."  Let  the  pure  men,  O  Lord,  who 
desire  after  purity,  warriors  as  well  as  husbandmen,  be  long  re- 
joiced !  ...  So  may  relationship,  worship,  and  friendship  be  ! 
That  we  may  lift  up  ourselves  to  be  thine,  O  Lord  All-knowing,  as 
pure  and  truthful,  with  sacrifice  and  offering."  ^ 

God.  —  "  The  garment  which  the  Lord  putteth  on  is  like  unto  a 
robe  inlaid  with  stars  of  a  heavenly  substance.  ...  By  me  the  earth 
liveth,  which  beareth  material  beings ;  by  me  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars ;  it  is  I  who  have  organized  the  seed ;  it  is  I  who  have  traced 
their  veins  in  every  kind  of  plants  ;  I  who  have  breathed  into  plants 
and  other  beings  a  fire  which  does  not  consume  them  ;  I  who  have 
created  the  new-born.  .  .  .  I  who  have  given  to  the  waters  feet  to 
run  ;  I  who  have  made  the  clouds  that  bear  water  to  the  world, 
and  make  fall  the  rain  where  it  pleaseth."  * 

TJie  Saviour.  —  The  Avesta  speaks  darkly  of  one  born 
of  Zoroaster  who  shall  crush  the  serpent,  destroy  Ahriman, 
and  bring  back  the  eternal  reign  of  good,  of  life  and  light.^ 
He  shall  be  called  Coshyos,  or  the  Increaser,  Avhile  the  Evil 
Spirit  ever  contracts  and  narrows  all  things.  He  shall 
*'  reanimate  the  world,  free  it  from  old  age  and  death, 
from  corruption  and  pollution,  and  shall  make  it  eternally 
living,   eternally    increasing,   master    of  itself;    then   shall 

'  Yasht  XXV.  II. 

"^  Yagna  xi  ;  Spiegel  :  Zend-Avesta,  p.  99, 

8  Spiegel:  Zend-Avesta,  p.  99.  ^  Yasht  xiii.  2,  3. 

^  Yasht  xix.,  Jxxxix. 


ZOROASTRIANISM.  195 

the  dead  rise  again,  immortality  shall  come,  and  the 
world  receive  its  life  through  its  prayers,  —  the  world 
which  through  the  law  of  purity  shall  be  saved  from 
death,  —  and  Satan  (Drug)  shall  disappear." 

Prayer.  —  "Teach  thou  me,  Lord  Omniscient,  from  out  thyself; 
from  heaven  through  thy  word,  whereby  the  world  first  arose."  ^ 

To  the  Sun.  —  "He  who  offereth  up  a  sacrifice  unto  the  undying, 
shining,  swift  horsed  Sun  to  withstand  darkness,  to  withstand  the  de- 
mons born  of  darkness,  to  withstand  robbers  and  bandits,  and  Death 
that  creepeth  in  unseen,  offereth  it  to  the  Lord  Omniscient."  ^ 

2o  a  Star.  — "  We  sacrifice  unto  the  bright  and  glorious  star 
that  washeth  away  all  things  of  fear,  whom  the  Lord  Omniscient 
hath  established  as  the  Lord  and  overseer  of  all  stars,  in  the  same 
day  as  he  hath  established  Zoroaster  among  men,  whom  neither 
Satan  nor  demons  nor  sorcerers  can  deliver  unto  death,  nor  all  the 
demons  together  prevail  unto  his  ruin."  ^ 

"  He  who  reciteth  the  ashem-vohu  (the  praise  of  holiness)  in  the 
fulness  of  faith,  with  a  devoted  heart,  praiseth  me,  the  Lord  Omni- 
scient ;  he  praiseth  the  waters,  the  earth,  the  cattle,  the  plants ;  he 
praiseth  all  good  things  made  by  the  Lord.  .  .  .  For  the  recital  of 
that  word  of  truth,  O  Zoroaster,  increaseth  strength  and  victory  in 
one's  soul,  and  piety."  * 

Zoroaster  asked  of  the  All-knowing,  "  What  is  the  one 
rc'cital  of  the  praise  of  holiness  that  is  worth  all  that  is 
between  the  earth  and  the  heavens,  and  this  earth  and  that 
luminous  space,  and  all  the  good  things  made  by  Mazda, 
that  are  the  offspring  of  the  good  principle  in  greatness, 
goodness,  and  fairness?"    And  he  answered,   "It  is  that 

1  Yagna  xxviii.  *  Korsh.  Yasht,  p.  86. 

»  Tir  Yasht,  p.  105.  *  Yasht,  Farg.,  p.  311. 


196  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

one,  O  holy  Zoroaster,  that  a  man  uttcreth  when  he  would 
renounce  evil  thoughts,  evil  words,  and  evil  deeds,"  ^ 

Purity.  — "  Thus,  O  holy  Zoroaster,  does  the  law  of  the  Lord 
take  away  all  the  evil  thoughts,  words,  and  deeds  of  a  pure  man, 
even  as  the  strong,  swift  wind  clears  the  sky."  ^ 

"  Grant  that  the  pure  may  rule,  the  impure  not  rule  !  May  the 
pure  rule  as  they  will,  may  the  godless  not  rule  as  they  will.  I,  who 
am  Zoroaster,  I  bless  the  wide  extent  and  brightness  of  the  whole 
creation  of  purity."  ^ 

"Purity  is  for  man  next  to  life  the  greatest  good,  —  that  purity 
gained  by  the  law  of  the  Lord,  to  him  who  cleanseth  his  own  self 
with  good  thoughts,  words,  and  works."  * 

"  Who,"  asked  Zoroaster  of  the  Lord  Omniscient,  "  who 

grieveth    thee   with    the    sorest    grief,   who   paineth    thee 

with  the  sorest  pain?  "     The  Lord  answered:   "  It  is  Gapi 

[incarnation  of  female  lust],  O  Zoroaster,  who  seeketh  out 

the  faithful .  and  unfaithful,  the  worshippers   of  the  Lord 

and  those  of  Satan,  the  wicked  and  the  righteous.     Her 

look  dryeth  up  a  large  part  of  the  mighty  floods  that  run 

from    the    mountains ;    her    look   withereth    most   of  the 

growing  plants  and  the  grass  wherewith  the  earth  is  clad ; 

and   her   touch    destroyeth    in    the    faithful   the    most   of 

his  good  thoughts,  words,  and  works,  —  his  strength,  his 

fiend-killing  power,  his  holiness.     Verily  I  say  unto  thee, 

O  Zoroaster,  such  creatures  ought  to  be  killed  more  than 

gliding  snakes,  howling  wolves,  or  the  wild  she-wolf  that 

falleth  upon  the  fold."  ^ 

^  Spiegel:  Zend-Avesta,  p.  313.  2  Farg.,  iii. 

3  Spiegel,  p.  50.  *  Farg.,  v.  21.  ^  ibid.,  xviii. 


ZOROASTRIANISM.  1 97 

"  He  who  knovveth  purity,  knowcth  the  Lord ;  to  such 
he  is  father,  brother,  friend."  ^ 

Zoroaster.  —  The  great  prophet  of  the  Iranians  is  rep- 
resented in  the  Avesta  as  the  first  of  the  Faithful,  and  the 
vanquisher  of  Satan  by  the  mystic  arm  of  prayer  and 
worship.^  He  alone  of  men  was  born  smiling;  prodigies 
were  related  of  his  infancy,  and  he  was  fed  by  mountain 
sheep,^  His  personality  is  shrouded  in  mystery.  When 
he  lived,  or  where  he  was  born,  is  uncertain,  and  many 
have  doubted  his  existence.  He  apparently  labored  in  the 
region  of  Bactria,  and  previous  to  the  fourteenth  century 
before  Christ.  The  legends  relate  that  when  he  appeared 
on  the  earth  all  Nature  trembled  with  joy;  the  trees 
moved  their  leaves,  and  rivers  rose  in  cheerful  waves. 
The  grotto  where  his  infancy  was  passed  was  frequently 
lighted  with  fire  from  heaven.^  His  teachings  are  mainly 
given  in  supposed  conversations  with  Ahura  Mazda,  or 
the  Lord  Omniscient,  w'hich  have  been  handed  down 
from  immemorial  time. 

It  is  certainly  remarkable  that  the  purest  religion  of  an- 
tiquity (excepting  the  Jewish)  should  have  almost  perished 
from  the  earth. 

1  Yagna  xliv.  2  Yaslit  13. 

8  Yasht  8,  29.  4  Avesta,  Harlez,  1875. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

HINDUISM. 

Even  those  -who  worship  idols. 

Worship  me,  the  God.  ^ 

Bhagavad-Gita. 

Let  us  meditate  ok  the  excellent  glory  of  the  divine  Life-Giver  ;  may  He  en- 
lighten our  understanding. 

Prayer,  from  Rig  Veda,  most  used  in  India. 

'T'^HE  ancient  Hindu,  as  he  sought  to  penetrate  the 
•^  mysteries  of  the  universe,  followed  a  path  similar 
to  that  of  most  ancient  races.  He  felt  with  reverence  the 
august  powers  of  Nature  around  him,  and  worshipped 
them.  The  storm,  the  thunder,  the  light,  and  the  heav- 
enly canopy  were  his  gods.  In  time  these  became  intel- 
ligent beings  to  him,  and  later  the  manifestations  of  the 
One  Infinite  Being.  The  grand  inspiration  teUing  of  the 
One  Boundless  Existence,  the  Source  and  Cause  of  all, 
early  visited  the  Hindu  mind;  but  it  was  accompanied 
with  peculiarities  of  belief  and  sentiment  which  have 
diminished  its  spiritual  power  in  the  world.  The  Hindu 
intellect  was  weighed  down  by  the  problems  of  existence. 
Questions  which  the  European  mind  holds  as  incapable 
of  being  settled,  and  leaves  in  the  limbo  of  insoluble 
propositions,    the    Oriental     attempted     to     solve.      The 


HINDUISM.  199 

mysterious  facts  of  suffering  and  inherited  sin  and  evil  he 
referred  back  to  former  and  unknown  conditions  of  ex- 
istence. The  wrong  and  pain  of  the  present  Hfe  were  the 
fruit  of  a  past  hfe,  and  would  be  the  seed  of  a  future. 
Birth  and  ever-recurring  re-birth  were  the  stupendous 
evils  of  existence,  and  would  be  for  all  coming  a;ons. 

Then,  to  the  Oriental,  personality  is  not  what  it  is  to  the 
Western  mind.  Under  the  tremendous  forces  and  appear- 
ances of  Nature  in  his  climate  the  individual  sinks  away 
to  nothingness.  The  grand  and  almost  unnamable  Power 
behind  phenomena  becomes  everything.  The  man  springs 
from  him,  the  soul  lives  in  him,  and  is  to  be  absorbed  at 
last  in  his  nature.  The  happiness  of  eternity  is  to  sink 
away  in  that  fathomless  sea  of  Love,  and  to  know  self  no 
more.  Absorption  in  Deity  and  freedom  from  re-birth  is 
to  the  Hindu  everlasting  life.  More  than  this,  as  all  things 
exist  in  God,  he  is  all,  and  nothing  really  lives  but  God. 
Man,  the  universe,  moral  good  and  evil,  are  only  parts 
of  that  infinite  existence. 

The  result  of  all  this  is  a  confusion  of  belief  and  feeling 
in  the  Hindu  mind  which  has  left  most  disastrous  effects 
on  its  history.  There  is  first  the  worship  of  deified  nature- 
powers,  sometimes  as  separate  gods  and  sometimes  as  God, 
as  expressed  in  the  Vedic  hymns  from  the  fifteenth  to  the 
tenth  century  before  Christ. 

Then  there  is  the  spiritual  pantheism  of  Brahmanism, 
wherein  all  the  forces  of  Nature  are  included  in  one  Being 


200  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

or  Spirit.  Then  come  all  sorts  of  degenerate  practices 
and  beliefs  derived  from  these  previous  faiths,  or  no-faiths. 
There  is  monotheism  at  one  time,  at  another  polytheism, 
at  still  another  pantheism,  wherein  all  creation  is  animated 
by  One  Spirit,  and  personal  responsibility  is  gone,  and 
this  Spirit  (Brahma)  without  personality  or  individuality. 
The  questions  of  Brahmanism,  says  Williams,  are.  How 
to  break  the  chain  of  repeated  births;  how  to  shake  off 
personality;  how  to  live  with  God  in  the  same  sphere, 
near  God  and  like  God.^ 

There  is  continually  in  the  Vedas  a  craving,  or  feeling, 
for  One  God.  It  is  sometimes  said,  "  There  is  one  God 
under  many  names."  ^  "  Cut  is  the  knot  of  man's  heart," 
says  an  ancient  poem,  "  solaced  are  all  his  doubts,  ended 
are  all  his  works,  when  he  has  beheld  the  Supreme  Being." 

These  ancient  hymns  often  teach  an  omnipresent  and 
omniscient  Cause  of  all  existence,  the  Creator  of  the  uni- 
verse. He  is  sole,  secondless,  without  parts,  entire,  eter- 
nal, infinite,  unchanging,  the  Soul  of  all  things,  who  is 
Truth,  Wisdom,  Intelligence,  Blessedness  itself  Souls 
emanate  from  him  as  sparks  from  the  fire ;  they  proceed 
from  him  and  return  to  him.  The  human  soul,  ruling  the 
body,  is  not  born,  and  does  not  die ;  it  is  a  portion  of  the 
divine  substance,  and  as  such  immortal  and  blessed.  It 
suffers  from  its  organs ;  but  divested  of  them  and  returned 

1  Williams  :  History  of  Religious  Thought  in  India. 

2  Rig  Veda,  i.  164,  86  ;  viii.  58,  2. 


HIXDUISM.  201 

to  the  Supreme,  it  is  at  rest  and  happy.  It  is  not  free  and 
independent,  but  it  is  made  to  act  by  the  Supreme  in  one 
Hfe  as  it  prepared  to  act  in  a  former;  thus  it  is  punished 
here  for  deeds  in  a  previous  existence.  But  Brahma,  in  the 
Hindu  theology,  is  not  the  author  of  evil.^  The  soul  sub- 
ject to  future  transmigrations  visits  other  worlds  to  receive 
recompense  for  its  works  or  suffer  penalty  for  misdeeds. 
Sinners  fall  to  various  regions  of  punishment.^  The  good, 
liberated  from  the  body  and  the  world,  ascend  to  the  court 
of  Brahma,  or,  if  perfect,  reunite  with  the  Divine  Essence. 
Different  degrees  of  deliverance  are  obtained  by  sacrifice, 
or  by  religious  exercises  and  meditations  on  God ;  but  the 
highest  is  only  won  by  perfect  knowledge  of  God.  The 
Rig  Veda  ^  often  speaks  of  him  as  all-seeing,  as  Father, 
Generator,  Disposer,  who  knoweth  all  worlds  and  giveth 
all  the  gods  their  names,  and  beyond  all  comparison   of 

mortals. 

Hymn.^ 

What  god  shall  we  adore  with  sacrifice  ? 
Him  let  us  praise,  the  golden  child  that  rose 
In  the  beginning,  who  was  born  the  Lord,  — 
The  one  sole  lord  of  all  that  is,  —  who  made 
The  earth,  and  formed  the  sky,  who  giveth  life. 
Who  giveth  strength,  whose  bidding  gods  revere ; 
Whose  hiding-place  is  immortality, 
Whose  shadow,  death ;  who  by  his  might  is  king 
Of  all  the  breathing,  sleeping,  waking  world ; 

1  Williams.  2  Ibid.  8  Rig  Veda,  81,82. 

^  I  Mandala,  Rig  Veda,  Ind.  Wisd.,  p.  23.     Williams's  translation. 


202  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Who  governs  men  and  beasts ;  whose  majesty 
These  snowy  hills,  this  ocean  with  its  rivers 
Declare  ;  of  whom  these  spreading  regions  form 
The  arms ;  by  whom  the  firmament  is  strong, 
Earth  firmly  planted,  and  the  highest  heavens 
Supported,  and  the  clouds  that  fill  the  air 
Distributed  and  measured  out ;  to  whom 
Both  earth  and  heaven,  established  by  his  will, 
Look  up  with  trembling  mind  ;  in  whom  revealed 
The  rising  sun  shines  forth  above  the  world. 
Where'er,  let  loose  in  space,  the  mighty  waters 
Have  gone,  depositing  a  fruitful  seed 
And  generating  fire,  there  he  arose, 
Who  is  the  breath  and  life  of  all  the  gods, 
Whose  mighty  glance  looks  round  the  vast  expanse 
Of  watery  vapor,  —  source  of  energy, 
Cause  of  the  sacrifice,  the  only  God 
Above  the  gods.     May  he  not  injure  us,  — 
He,  the  creator  of  the  earth,  the  righteous 
Creator  of  the  sky,  creator  too 
Of  oceans  bright  and  far-extending  waters  ! 

Vedic  Morals.  — The  ancient  Vedic  religion  contained 
a  deep  sense  of  sin.  The  worshipper  often  grieves  over 
his  simplicity  and  ignorance,  and  prays  the  god  to  replace 
his  weakness  by  divine  knowledge.  Sin  is  to  him  like  the 
non-payment  of  a  debt  to  the  upper  powers.  A  divine 
pity  is  conceived  by  the  singer,  and  the  sinner  is  imagined 
as  a  bird  on  its  nest,  imploring  pardon  for  its  offspring, 
and  wishing  in  its  fright  to  dash  itself  against  the  bosom  of 
its  God.i  "  If  we  have  committed  a  fault,  men  as  we  are."^ 
1  Rig  Veda,  ii.  29-5-6.  ^  Ibid.,  iv.  12. 


HINDUISM.  203 

"It  was  not  my  will;  the  gods  judge  by  the  intention." 
**  Thou  dost  not  enjoy  the  sacrifice  of  the  untrue,  even 
when  he  is  at  thy  gate."  ^  Penitence  is  expressed  even  for 
the  sin  of  gambling.  Compassion  holds  the  highest  place 
among  virtues.  "  He  who  giveth  alms  goeth  to  the  highest 
heaven,  goeth  to  the  gods." 

There  came  a  period  in  Hindu  thought  when  the  long- 
ing for  absorption  in  the  Infinite  One  was  not  to  be  at 
rest  from  the  storms  of  life  in  the  bosom  of  infinite  peace, 
or  to  be  free  from  its  pollution  in  the  union  with  perfect 
purity,  but  rather  to  exist  in  utter  inaction  with  a  Being 
who  is  motionless  and  purposeless.  The  true  worshipper 
does  not  seek  to  follow  his  will  in  the  tangled  web  of  hu- 
man life,  but  with  hini  to  be  free  from  all  emotion  and 
action,  to  escape  desire  and  change,  and  pain  and  sin  and 
re-birth.  He  seeks  not  his  own  happiness  in  the  happi- 
ness of  others,  but  utter  peace  in  an  eternal  calm  which  no 
storm  shall  ever  break.  The  purpose,  to  a  certain  extent,  is 
selfish,  and  yet  not  entirely  so ;  for  it  is  a  dream  of  a  calm 
where  the  individual  is  in  harmony  with  all  others,  and 
with  Brahma;  but  the  Infinite  Spirit  himself  is  peaceful 
in  a  boundless  indifference,  and  the  worshipper  aims  to  be 
like  him.  Still,  this  state  of  feeling  and  these  ideals  will 
often  be  mingled  with  the  purest  and  loftiest  aspirations  of 
self-devoting  religion,  —  with  conceptions  of  a  God  who 
lives  in  eternal  beneficence,  and  with  desires  to  sacrifice 
^  Rig  Veda,  viii.  11. 


204  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

all  here  and  hereafter  for  human  happiness.  About  such 
a  confused  matter  as  Hindu  religion  one  must  not  dog- 
matize too  severely. 

VARUNA. 
The  oldest  picture  of  the  Unknown  God  is  as  Varuna, 
or  ovpav6<i  (Heaven).  This  ancient  god  is  represented  in 
the  Hindu  hymns  as  having  meted  out  and  fashioned 
and  upheld  heaven  and  earth ;  he  dwells  in  all  worlds  as 
sovereign  ruler;  he  made  the  golden  and  revolving  sun 
to  shine  in  the  firmament ;  the  wind  is  his  breath ;  he  has 
opened  boundless  paths  for  the  sun,  and  has  hollowed  out 
channels  for  rivers,  which  flow  by  his  command,  pouring 
their  waters  into  the  ocean  and  never  filling  it.  His  laws 
are  fixed  and  unassailable.  They  rest  upon  him  unshaken, 
as  upon  a  mountain.  Through  his  laws  the  moon  walketh 
in  darkness,  and  the  stars  in  the  night-sky  vanish  at  dawn. 
Neither  birds  flying  in  air  nor  flowing  rivers  can  attain 
knowledge  of  his  power  or  wrath ;  his  angels  behold  both 
worlds;  he  knoweth  the  flight  of  birds  in  the  sky,  the 
path  of  ships  on  the  ocean,  the  course  of  the  far-travelling 
wind,  and  beholdeth  all  secret  things  that  have  been  or 
shall  be  done.  No  creature  can  even  wink  without  him ; 
he  witnesseth  men's  truths  and  falsehoods ;  he  instructeth 
the  saints  (Rishi)  in  mysteries.  But  his  secrets  are  not  to 
be  revealed  to  the  foolish.^     It  is  noteworthy  that  he  is 

1  Muir's  Sanskrit  Text,  v.  62,  6^. 


HINDUISM.  205 

especially  the  God    of  righteousness,  to  whom  the    con- 
science of  the  sinner  appeals. 

Hymn  to  Varuna. 

1.  We  break  thy  laws  from  day  to  day,  men  that  we  are,  O 
Varuna. 

2.  Do  not  deliver  us  unto  death,  nor  to  the  blow  of  the  furious, 
nor  to  the  anger  of  the  spiteful. 

3.  To  profit  thee,  O  Varuna,  we  bind  thy  spirit  with  songs,  as 
the  charioteer  the  weary  steed.  .  .  . 

7.  He,  Varuna,  who  knoweth  the  place  of  the  birds  that  fly 
through  the  sky,  who  on  the  waters  knoweth  the  ships  .  .  . 

8.  He  the  upholder  of  order  .  .  . 

9.  He  who  knoweth  the  track  of  the  wind,  the  wide,  the  bright, 
the  mighty,  and  knoweth  those  who  dwell  on  high  .  .  , 

10.  He,  the  wise,  sitteth  there  to  govern. 

1 1 .  From  thence  perceiving  all  wondrous  things,  he  seeth  what 
hath  been  and  what  will  be  done.  .  .  . 

16.   Fearing  him,  the  far-seeing,  my  thoughts  move  onward  like 
kine  to  their  pastures. 

19.  Oh,  hear  this  my  prayer,  Varuna.   Be  gracious  now  !    Longing 
for  help,  I  have  called  upon  thee. 

20.  Thou,  O  wise  god,  art  Lord  of  all  heaven  and  earth  ;  listen 
on  thy  way.^ 

Another  Hymn. 

1.  Let  me  not,  O  King  Varuna,  go  to  the  house  of  earth.     Be 
gracious,  O  mighty  God,  be  gracious  ! 

2.  I  go  along,  O  Thunderer,  quivering  like  an  inflated  skin.     Be 
gracious  ! 

3.  O  bright  and  mighty  God,  I  have  transgressed  through  want 
of  power.     Be  gracious  ! 

4.  Thirst  hath  overtaken  the  worshipper  when  standing  in  the 
midst  of  waters.     Be  gracious  ! 

1  Muller:  Hist.  Sanskrit  Lit.,  p.  535. 


206  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

c.  Whatever  offence  this  be  that  we  mortals  commit  against  the 
people  of  the  sky,  in  whatever  way  we  have  broken  thy  law  by 
thoughtlessness,  be  gracious,  O  mighty  (iod,  be  gracious  !  I  have 
gone,  O  self-sustainin'g  Varuna,  to  thy  vast  and  spacious  house 
with  a  thousand  gates. 

6.  He  who  was  thy  friend,  thy  intimate,  thy  best  beloved,  hath 
committed  offences  against  thee.  Let  not  us  who  are  guilty  reap 
the  offence  of  our  sin !  Do  thou,  O  wise  God,  grant  protection  to 
him  who  prayeth  to  thee  !  ^ 

Varuna  — "  The  great  one  who  ruleth  over  these  worlds  be- 
holdeth  as  if  he  were  close  at  hand.  When  one  thinketh  he  is 
doing  aught  by  stealth,  the  gods  know  it  all.  They  perceive  every 
one  who  walks,  or  glides  along  secretly,  or  withdraws  into  his  house. 
Whatever  two  persons  sitting  together  devise,  Varuna  the  king,  a 
third,  knoweth  it.  This  earth  belongeth  to  Varuna,  and  that  vast 
sky.  He  who  should  flee  far  from  beyond  the  sky  would  not  there 
escape  from  Varuna  the  king.  His  angels  descending  from  heaven 
traverse  this  world.  The  thousand-eyed  Varuna  looketh  across  the 
whole  earth.  The  winking  of  men's  eyes  are  all  numbered  by  him. 
He  handleth  all  these  as  a  gamester  throweth  his  dice."  ^ 

He  can  cure  every  sickness,  and  drive  away  evil  and  sin; 

he  is  entreated  to  spare  suppliants  who  daily  transgress  his 

law,  and  is  gracious  even  to  him  who  hath  committed  sin. 

He  is  the  wise  guardian  of  immortality,  and  the  hope  is 

held  out  that  he,  reigning  in  blessedness,  shall  be  beheld 

in  the  next  world  by  the  righteous.^ 

Another  Psalm  to  Varuna. 
I.  Wise  and  mighty  are  the  works  of  him  who  burst  asunder 
the  wide  firmament !     He  lifted  on  high  the  bright  and  glorious 
heaven  ;  he  stretched  out  apart  the  starry  sky  and  the  earth. 

1  Rig  Veda,  vii.  88,  89.  2  Athar.  Veda,  xvi.  4. 

8  Mulr  :   Sanskrit  Text,  p.  165. 


.     HINDUISM.  207 

2.  Do  I  say  this  in  my  own  soul,  How  can  I  get  under  Varuna? 
Will  he  accept  my  offering  without  displeasure?  When  shall  I 
with  a  quiet  mind  see  him  propitiated? 

3.  I  ask,  O  Varuna,  wishing  to  know  this  my  sin.  I  go  to  ask 
the  wise,  the  sages;  all  tell  me  the  same.  Varuna  it  is  who  is 
angry  with  me. 

4.  Was  it  an  old  sin,  O  Varuna,  for  which  thou  wishest  to  de- 
stroy thy  friend,  who  always  praiseth  thee  ?  Tell  me,  O  Lord,  and 
I  will  quickly  turn  to  thee  with  praise,  free  from  sin. 

5.  Absolve  us  from  the  sins  of  our  fathers,  and  from  those  which 
we  have  committed  with  our  own  bodies. 

6.  It  was  not  our  own  doing,^  O  Varuna ;  it  was  necessity,  an 
intoxicating  draught,  passion,  vice,  thoughtlessness.  The  old  is 
never  to  mislead  the  young ;  even  sleep  bringeth  sin.  .  .  . 

7.  Protect  us,  O  gods,  with  your  blessing. 

"  What  injustice  we  have  done  to  bosom  friend, 
To  loving  comrade,  to  brother. 
In  our  own  house  or  in  stranger's, 
All  this  sin,  O  Varuna,  forgive  ! 

"  If  we  have  cheated  in  play,  like  false  players, 
If  we  have  erred,  ignorant  or  knowing,  — 
Wlfatever  hath  ensnared  us,  all  this  free  us  from, 
Great  Varuna,  and  again  may  we  be  clear  before  thee."  ^ 

Mojiothcism.  —  The  hymns  in  the  Rig  Veda  rise  occa- 
sionally into  pure  monotheism.  "  That  which  is  one," 
says  one  hymn,  "  sages  name  it  in  various  ways."  They 
call  it  Agni,  Jama,  and  other  names.^  The  wise  poets 
represent  by  their  words  "  him  who  is  one,  with  beautiful 

1  Rig  Veda,  vii.  86  ;  Sanskrit  Lit.,  p.  535. 

2  Rig  Veda,  85  (Grassman).  »  Rig  Veda,  i.  164. 


208  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

wings,  in  many  ways."  ^  "  In  the  beginning  there  arose 
the  golden  germ ;  he  was  the  one  born  lord  of  all ;  he 
established  the  earth  and  this  sky.  .  .  There  is  one 
eternal  thinker,  thinking  of  non-eternal  thoughts;  he, 
though  one,  fulfillcth  the  desires  of  many.  The  wise  who 
perceive  him  within  their  spirit,  to  them  belong  eternal 
life,  eternal  peace."  ^  "  Even  those  who  worship  idols 
worship  me  [the  god],"  says,  at  a  later  period,  the  great 
Hindu  poem.^ 

An  Upanishad  (a  commentary  of  the  later  Brahmans) 
says,  "  There  is  only  one  Being  who  existeth."  Three 
gods.  Fire,  Wind,  and  Sun,  were  together  in  the  Om,  or 
Supreme  Soul ;  they  call  it  Indra,  Agni,  Varuna,  and 
various  names.* 

"  O  god  of  gods,  thou  art  to  me 

Father,  mother,  kinsmen,  friends. 

I,  knowledge,  riches  find  in  thee ; 

All  good  thy  being  comprehends."  ^ 

"  Thou  lord  of  the  universe,  the  only  refuge 
Of  living  beings,  the  alleviator 
Of  pain,  the  benefactor  of  mankind, 
Show  me  thy  favor,  and  deliver  me 
From  evil.     O  creator  of  the  world. 
Maker  of  all  that  hath  been  and  will  be, 

^  Rig  Veda,  x.  114.  Compare  the  conception  of  tlie  Greek  poet  of 
Zeus  :   TToXXwi/  6vo\ia.Tu>v  fxoptprj  fxid. 

2  M.  Miiller  :  Wliat  India  Thinks,  p.  248. 

8  Bhagavad-Gita. 

*  Rig  Veda,  i.  164;  x.  114-115  ;  Colebrooke,  ii.  no. 

^  Translation  by  Muir. 


HINDUISM.  209 

Of  all  that  moves  and  is  immovable, 
Worthy  of  praise,  I  come  to  thee,  my  refuge, 
Renouncing  all  attachment  to  the  world. 
Longing  for  fulness  of  felicity,  — 
Extinction  of  myself,  absorption  into  thee."  ^ 

"The  higher  Brahmanism  of  the  wise,"  says  an  Upanishad,  "is 
the  Right  and  the  True.  Through  truth  the  wind  bloweth,  the  sun 
shineth.  Truth  is  the  support  of  speech.  By  it  is  the  universe  up- 
held. It  is  the  highest  of  all."  '^  "  Falsehood  is  encompassed  by 
truth.  It  harmeth  not  him  who  knoweth  this.  The  eternal  world 
is  that  in  which  is  no  crookedness,  no  delusion,  no  lie."  ^ 

In  the  following  is   the  conception  of  a   moral  order 

and  a  Creator:  — 

Cosmogony. 

From  the  enkindled  fire-glow 
Sprang  truth  and  right ; 
From  this  sprang  dark,  dark  night. 
From  it  the  sea,  the  billows. 

And  from  the  sea,  the  billows, 
Was  produced  the  year's  course. 
Dividing  day  and  night ;  it  rules 
All  that  the  eye  reaches. 

And  in  its  order  the  Creator 
Formed  the  sun  and  the  moon. 
The  heaven  and  then  the  earth. 
The  air  arch  and  the  ether  space.* 

1  Vishnu  Purana,  v.  23.  2  Weber,  11,  80. 

3  Pr.    Up.,   i.  16.       Compare    Egyptian  ascriptions   to  Truth   in 
Chapter  I.  of  this  volume. 
*  Rig  Veda,  x.  190. 

14 


2IO  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

These  ancient  hymns  have  given  us  the  Hindu's 
ideas  of  death  and  heaven,  and  they  are  followed  by 
'later  pictures  in  the  great  poems  of  a  less  antique 
period.  These  attempts  to  penetrate  the  great  Dark- 
ness are  most  touching.  The  Unknown  God  has  ap- 
parently revealed  to  this  reverent  and  thoughtful  race 
some  glimpses  of  the  eternal  Light.  The  conception 
of  Jama  as  the  first-born  of  the  dead,  and  the  leader 
of  all  mortals  through  the  dark  valley,  is  peculiarly 
poetic. 

The  Hindu  Heaven.  —  "  In  heaven,  where  our  virtuous  friends 
enjoy  blessedness,  having  left  behind  the  infirmities  of  their  flesh, 
free  from  lameness  or  distortion  of  their  limbs,  they  re-behold 
our  parents  and  our  children."  -^ 

"  Place  me  in  that  imperishable  and  unchanging  world  where 
perpetual  light  and  glory  are  found.  Make  me  immortal  in  the 
realm  where  King  Jama  dwelleth,  where  the  sanctuary  of  the  sky 
exists  and  the  great  waters  ^ov^.  Make  me  immortal  in  the  third 
heaven,  or  the  third  sky,  where  action  is  unrestrained  and  the 
regions  are  luminous.  Make  me  immortal  in  the  world  where  are 
joys  and  delights  for  evermore."  "^ 

In  the  picture  of  the  high  stage  of  heavenly  blessedness 
contained  in  the  Maha-bharata^  there  is  no  promise  of  any 
sensual  gratification.  The  kind  of  persons  who  enter  the 
heavenly  world  are  those  who  have  performed  austerities 
or  have  offered  great  sacrifices,  —  the  truthful,  the  ortho- 

^  Atharva  Veda,  iii.  28.  2  Rjg  Veda,  ix.  13. 

3  This  poem,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  of  a  much  later  date  than 
the  Vedas. 


HINDUISM.  211 

dox,  the  righteous,  the  self-restrained,  the  meek,  the  Hberal, 
the  brave.     The  celestial  abodes  are  shining  glorious,  and 
filled  with  all  delights.     There  hunger,  thirst,  weariness, 
cold,  heat,  fear,  are  unknown;  there  is  nothing  disgusting 
or  disagreeable,  there   is    no   sorrow  or  lamentation,    no 
decay,  no  labor,  no  envy,  no  jealousy,  no  delusion.    There 
the   blessed  are  clothed  with   glorious  bodies  which  are 
produced  by  their  works,  and  not  generated  by  any  father 
or  mother.     The  blessed  there  do  not  subsist  on  oblations, 
nor  do  they  feed  upon  ambrosia.    They  have  celestial,  and 
not  coarse,  material  bodies.     The  eternal  gods,  who  dwell 
in  these  highest  places,  do  not  desire  pleasure ;   they  do 
not  change  with  the  revolution  of  aeons;    how  then  can 
they   be   subject  to  decay  or  death?      They   experience 
neither  joy  nor  pleasure,  neither  happiness  nor  suffering, 
neither   love  nor  hatred.      This  high   estate  beyond  the 
reach  of  those  who  seek  after  pleasure  is  desired  even  by 
the    gods.      This    celestial    felicity    is    within    the    reach 
of  mortal  man,  the  fruit  of  his   good   deeds.      The  only 
drawback  to   the  heavenly  state   is  this:    as  the   fruit  of 
work   done    on    earth    is    enjoyed    in    heaven,    while    no 
other    new   works    are    performed    there,   this    enjoyment 
must   come   to   an   end,  for   this  world    is  the    place   for 
works,    and   the    other    is   the    place    for    reward.      The 
only  life  free  from   all   defects    is   the    pure,   eternal  light 
above   the    abode    of   Brahma.      Thither    none   can    pro- 
ceed who   are  devoted  to  objects  of  sense,  or  who   are 


212  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

the  slaves  of  dishonesty,  avarice,  anger,  delusion,  or 
malice;  but  only  the  unselfish,  the  humble,  those  in- 
different to  pain  and  pleasure,  those  whose  senses  are 
under  restraint,  and  those  who  practise  contemplation, 
and  fix  their  minds  on  the  Deity.  The  final  blessedness 
is  supreme,  eternal  perfection,  in  the  nature  of  Nirvana, 
or  perfect  peace.^ 

The  Bhagavad-Gita,2  a  poem  as  late  as  the  first  century, 
says :  — 

"  There  is  an  invisible,  eternal  existence  beyond  the  visible, 
which  does  not  perish  when  all  things  else  perish,  even  when  the 
Great  Day  of  Brahma's  created  life  passes  into  night,  and  all  that 
exists  returneth  to  God  whence  it  came.  They  who  obtain  this 
never  return.  .  .  .  They  proceed  to  that  imperishable  place  which 
is  illumined  by  neither  the  sun  nor  the  moon  ;  to  that  primeval 
Spirit  whence  the  stream  of  life  forever  flows."  ^ 

"  Whoever  believeth  me  in  all  things,  and  all  in  me,  I  do  not 
vanish  from  him,  nor  does  he  vanish  from  me ;  for  in  me  he 
liveth."  * 

"  Bright  as  the  sun,  beyond  darkness,  is  he  to  the  soul  that 
remembereth  him  in  meditation  at  the  hour  of  death,  —  him  the 
most  ancient  of  the  wise,  the  ruler,  the  sustainer  of  all."  ^  "They 
who  know  me  in  my  being,  my  power,  and  my  manifested  life,  in 
the  power  of  death,  know  me  indeed."  ^ 

"They  who  devoutly  worship  me  are  in  me  and  I  in  them."'' 
"  Rest  thy  mind  in  me,  fix  thy  understanding  on  me,  and  thou 
shalt  hereafter  dwell  in  me."*     "O  Indra,  we  sages  have  been  in 

^  Muir's  Sanskrit  Text,  v.  326.  2  Bhagavad-Gita,  viii. 

8  Ibid.,  XV.     Brahma's  "  Great  Day  "  is  2,160,000,000  years. 
*  Bhagavad-Gita,  vi.  ^  Ibid.,  vii. 

^  Ibid.,  viii.  '  Ibid.,  ix.  29. 

8  Ibid.,  xii.  8. 


HINDUISM.  213 

thee."  *  "  This  worshipper,  O  Agni,  hath  been  in  thee  ;  O  son 
of  strength,  he  hath  no  other  kindred."  ^  "  We,  O  gods,  are  in 
you  as  if  fighting  in  coats  of  mail."  ^  "  Krishna  is  the  light  of 
lights  ;  far  from  darkness  is  his  name."  ^  "  But  if  I  were  not  ever 
busy  in  work  unwearied  .  ,  .  these  worlds  would  perish  if  I  did 
not  work  my  work."  '' 

"They  are  dead  in  me."  ^  "I,  Krishna,  am  he  who  am  the 
highest  way.  I  am  the  way,  the  beginning,  and  the  end."  "^  "  I 
am  the  generator  and  destroyer  of  the  entire  universe ;  than  me  is 
nothing  higher.  ...  All  existences  abide  in  me,  but  I  do  not 
abide  in  them."  ®  "  Arjuna  saith,  'Thou,  Krishna,  art  the  supreme 
Brahma,  the  highest  essence,  the  eternal,  divine  One,  unborn,  all- 
pervading.'  "  ®  "  Those  who,  fixing  their  minds  on  me  with  the 
completest  faith,  worship  me  with  constant  devotion,  are  esteemed 
by  me  the  most  devoted."  ^'^ 

The  ancient  Hindu  worshipper  poured  forth  his  prayer 
for  the  beloved  one  dying,  even  as  we  do.  There  is  the 
same  agony  and  impassioned  cry.  There  is  hope,  indeed, 
but  not  assured  faith.  It  is  "  triple  darkness  "  beyond, 
and  little  light  shines. 

Prayer  for  the  Dying.  —  "  Reverence  death,  the  ender.  .  .  . 
May  this  man  remain  here,  united  with  his  spirit  in  the  domain  of 
the  sun,  in  the  world  of  deathlessness.  The  divine  beings  have 
raised  him  up  to  health.  Here  is  thy  spirit,  here  thy  breath,  here 
thy  life,  here  thy  soul.  He  rescued  thee  from  the  bonds  of  de- 
struction by  divine  utterance.     Rise  up  !     Hence,  O  man,  casting 

1  Rig  Veda,  ii.  11-12.  2  11^5^.^  x.  142. 

^  Ibid.,  viii.  47,  48.  *  Bhagavad-Gita,  xiii.  17. 

®  Bhagavad-Gita,  iii.  23,  24.  *  Ibid.,  x.  9. 

'  Ibid.,  vii.  18,  ix.  18.  »  Ibid.,  vii.  6. 

9  Ibid.,  X.  12.  10  Ibid.,  xii.  2. 


214  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

off  the  fetters  of  death ;  do  not  sink  downward ;  do  not  depart 
from  this  world,  from  the  sight  of  the  fire-god  and  the  sun  !  May 
the  wind  blow  for  thee,  may  the  waters  shower  immortality  on 
thee,  may  the  sun  shine  healingly.upon  thy  body,  may  death  pity 
thee  !  Do  not  die  !  Thou  must  ascend,  O  man,  and  not  de- 
scend. I  give  thee  life  and  mind ;  let  not  thy  soul  go  away 
thither ;  let  it  not  disappear  ;  do  not  wander  away  from  the  living  ; 
do  not  follow  the  fathers  !  May  all  the  gods  preserve  thee  !  .  .  . 
Do  not  follow  this  path;  it  is  terrible.  I  speak  of  that  by 
which  thou  hast  hitherto  not  gone.  This,  O  man,  is  darkness ; 
do  not  enter  it.  Beyond  thou  hast  fear ;  on  this  side  thou  hast 
security."  ^ 

The  following  burial  invocation  belongs  to  the  highest 
poetry  of  mankind. 

Burial  Prayer.^ 

To  those  unreached  by  penance, 
Who  have  raised  penance  to  the  height  of  heaven, 
Who  have  perfected  great  works  of  penance,  — 
To  all  these  go  hence  ! 

To  those  who  have  fought  in  many  a  battle, 
Have  given  up  their  lives,  heroes  bold  ! 
Whose  sacrifices  reward  mankind  a  thousand-fold,  — 
To  all  these,  go  hence  ! 

To  the  ancients  who  have  kept  the  Right, 
Who  have  practised  Right  and  increased  Right, 
O  Jama  !  to  the  host  of  pious  fathers,  — 
To  all  these,  go  hence  ! 

1  Muir's  Sanskrit  text,  v.  444;  Atharva  Veda,  viii.  I. 

2  Rig  Veda,  x.  154  (Grassman). 


HINDUISM.  21 S 

To  the  singers  rich  in  wisdom, 
They  who  are  guardians  of  the  sun, 
Jama  !  to  the  host  of  pious  poets,  — 
To  all  the  pious,  go  hence  ! 

"  Give  thyself  to  the  motherly  soil,  the  wide-embracing,  gracious 
earth  !  A  maiden  tender  as  wool  is  she  to  the  pious.  Let  her 
guard  thee  from  destruction.  Open  thyself,  O  earth  !  Be  acces- 
sible to  the  dead  !  As  a  mother  covereth  her  son  with  a  garment, 
so  cover  him,  O  ground  !  "  ^ 


To  Jama,  mighty  king,  be  gifts  and  homage  paid  ; 

He  was  the  first  man  that  died,  the  first  to  brave 

Death's  rapid  rushing  stream,  the  first  to  point  the  road 

To  heaven,  and  welcome  others  to  that  bright  abode. 

No  pall  can  rob  us  of  the  home  thus  won  by  thee. 

O  king,  we  come ;  the  born  who  have  died  must  tread  the  path 

That  thou  hast  trod,  —  the  path  by  which  each  race  of  men, 

Souls  of  the  dead,  depart ;  fear  not  to  take  the  road, 

The  ancient  road  by  which  thy  ancestors  have  gone. 

Ascend  to  meet  the  god,  to  meet  thy  happy  fathers 

Who  dwell  in  bliss  with  him  ;  fear  not  to  pass  the  guards, 

The  four-eyed  brindled  dogs  that  watch  for  the  departed. 

Return  unto  thy  home  ;  also  thy  sin  and  shame 

Leave  there  behind  on  earth ;  assume  a  shining  form. 

Thy  ancient  shape,  refined,  and  from  all  ancient  taint  set  free.^ 

Jama,  the  Leader  to  Death.  —  "Him  who  hath  opened  the  way 
which  leadeth  from  depth  to  height,  him.  Jama  the  king,  cele- 
brated Jama,  hath  first  found  a  place  for  us,  a  home  which  no 
one  can  take  from  us,  whither  our  forefathers  have  departed  and 
all  the  living  go.  .  .  .  The  first-born  of  death,  the  first  arrival  in 

1  Rig  Veda,  x.  22. 

*  Translated  by  Williams,  Hist,  of  Relig.  Thought  in  India,  p.  16. 


2l6  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

the  kingdom  of  the  departed,  —  the  natural  head  of  the  long 
procession  who  follow  him,  —  Jama,  the  Prince  of  the  holy, 
celebrate  ! "  ^ 

The  prayer  most  used  in  India,  from  the  Rig  Veda, 
might  be  uttered  by  all  Christians :  "  Let  us  meditate  on 
the  excellent  glory  of  the  Divine  Life-giver;  may  He  en- 
lighten our  understandings !  " 

The  Upanishads,  or  later  commentaries  on  the  Vedas, 
give  us  many  glimpses  of  divine  inspirations,  though  min- 
gled with  gross  errors. 

Qod.  — "  Being  in  this  world,  we  may  know  the  Supreme 
Spirit.  If  there  be  ignorance  of  hira,  then  complete  death  en- 
sues." "  "  If  a  tree  be  cut  down  it  springs  up  anew  from  the  root. 
From  what  root  does  mortal  man  grow  again  when  mown  down 
by  death?  The  root  is  Brahma,  who  is  knowledge  and»bliss."* 
"  The  knowledge  of  these  works,  the  Vedas,  is  a  mere  name,  .  .  . 
and  highest  of  all  stands  life ;  .  .  .  this  life  ought  to  be  approached 
with  faith  and  reverence,  and  viewed  as  an  immensity  which 
abides  in  its  own  glory.  That  immensity  extends  from  above 
and  below,  from  behind  and  before,  from  the  south  and  from 
the  north.  It  is  the  soul  of  the  universe,  it  is  God  himself. 
The  man  who  is  conscious  of  this  divinity  incurs  neither  dis- 
ease nor  pain  nor  death.  .  .  .  Know  him,  the  Spirit,  to  be  one 
alone ;  give  up  all  words  contrary  to  this.  Ke  is  the  bridge  of 
immortality."  * 

The  Supreme  Being.  —  "  That  the  Supreme  Being  is  omniscient 
followeth  from  the  fact  that  he  is  the  source  of  the  Vedas.  As 
from  that  being  every  soul  is  evolved,  so  to  that  being  does  every 
soul  return.  .  .  .  He,  the  Supreme  Being,  consisteth  of  joy.  .  .  • 

1  Rig  Veda,  x.  i,  14.  *  Upanishad,  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  39. 

8  Ibid.,  iii.  9,  28.  ■*  Ibid.,  vii.  1-4. 


HINDUISM.  217 

He,  the  one  God,  is  the  light.  He  is  the  life  and  breath  of  life. 
He  is  the  life  with  which  Indra  identified  himself  when  he  said  ; 
'  I  am  the  life,  consisting  of  perfect  knowledge ;  worship  me,  as 
the  life  immortal.'  "  ^ 

Tlie  Lord  of  Righteoustiess.  —  "  For  the  establishment  of  right- 
eousness am  I  born  from  time  to  time.  I  am  dearer  to  the  wise 
than  all  possessions,  and  he  is  dear  to  me.  In  him  are  all  beings, 
and  by  him  was  this  universe  spread  out.  Deluded  men  despised 
me  when  I  had  taken  human  form.  In  all  the  Vedas  I  am  to  be 
known."  ^  "  Whatever  the  state  of  mind  of  a  man  at  the  moment 
when  he  leaves  the  body,  to  that  does  he  always  go,  being  made 
to  conform  to  that."  ^ 

True   Goodness. 
"  Conquer  a  man  who  never  gives  by  gifts  ; 
Subdue  untruthful  men  by  truthfulness  ; 
Vanquish  an  angry  man  by  gentleness, 
And  overcome  the  evil  man  by  goodness."  * 

"  Triple  restraint  of  thought  and  word  and  deed, 
Strictness  of  silence,  coil  of  netted  hair, 
Close-shaven  head,  garments  of  skin  or  bark, 
Keeping  of  fasts,  ablutions,  maintenance 
Of  sacrificial  fires,  a  hermit's  Hfe, 
Emaciation,  —  these  are  all  in  vain 
Unless  the  inward  soul  be  free  from  stain."  ^ 

"To  injure  none  by  thought  or  word  or  deed, 
To  give  to  others  and  be  kind  to  all, 

1  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  113.     San  Kara. 

2  Bhagavad-Gita,  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  149. 
^  Ibid.,  viii.  6. 

*  Maha-bharata,  ill.  13253. 

6  Ibid.,  iii.  13245.  This  idea  is  frequently  expressed  in  Buddhistic 
writinss. 


2l8  THE   UNKNOWN  COD. 

This  is  the  constant  duty  of  the  good. 
High-minded  men  delight  in  doing  good, 
Without  a  thought  of  their  own  interest ; 
When  they  confer  a  benefit  on  others, 
They  reckon  not  on  favors  in  return."  * 

"  Two  persons  will  hereafter  be  exalted 
Above  the  heavens,  —  the  man  with  boundless  power 
Who  yet  forbears  to  use  it  indiscreedy, 
And  he  who  is  not  rich  and  yet  can  give."  ^ 

"  Bear  raving  words  with  patience  ;  never  meet 
An  angry  man  with  anger,  nor  return 
Reviling  for  reviling  ;  smite  not  him 
Who  smites  thee.     Let  thy  speech  and  acts  be  gende, 


»  3 


The  following  thoughts  from  the  celebrated  Hindu 
poem,  Bhagavad-Gita,  are  so  strikingly  spiritual  that  many 
have  believed  them  borrowed  from  or  influenced  by 
Christianity  itself,  as  they  might  possibly  be,  this  poem 
being  as  late  as  from  the  first  to  the  third  century  after 
Christ. 

The  Saviour.  —  "  On  the  other  hand,  who  worship  me,  com- 
mitdng  to  me  all  their  actions,  regarding  me  as  the  supreme  end, 
and  meditating  on  me,  nothing  else  knowing,  for  them  with  hearts 
entered  into  me,  I  become,  O  son  of  Pritha,  without  delay  the 
rescuer  from  the  ocean  of  death-bearing,  wandering  existence. 
Fix  thy  thoughts  upon  me  alone ;  in  me  let  thy  faith  dwell, 
and  thou  shalt  hereafter  abide  in  me  without  doubt."  *  "  Those 
who  worship  thy  immortality-bearing  law,  as  declared,  full  of  faith, 

1  Maha-bharata,  iii.  16782.  2  Jbid.,  v.  1028. 

8  Ibid.,  V.  1270.  *  Bhagavad-Gita. 


HINDUISM.  219 

regarding  me  as  the  supreme  end,  are  exceedingly  beloved  of  me."  ^ 
"  Knowing  me,  the  enjoyer  of  all  sacrifice  and  penance,  the 
supreme  Lord  of  all  worlds  and  the  Friend  of  all  creatures,  he 
attaineth  rest."^ 

A  Good  End  to  the  Righteous.  —  "  The  blessed  Lord  said,  '  O 
son  of  Pritha,  neither  here  nor  hereafter  is  there  destruction  for 
him ;  never  does  a  worker  of  righteousness  come  to  an  evil 
end.'  "  3 

Worship.  —  "  But  the  great-souled  ones,  united  to  godlike 
natures,  knowing  me  to  be  the  exhaustless  origin  of  all  things, 
worship  with  mind  that  turns  to  nothing  else.  Constant  in  union, 
with  faith  they  worship,  almost  proclaiming  me,  striving  for  me 
with  fixed  vows,  and  bowing  down  to  me."  *  "  Whoever  in  love 
offers  to  me  a  leaf,  or  flower,  or  fruit,  that  given  in  love  by  the 
pure-hearted  I  accept.  .  .  .  Those  who  worship  me  in  love,  they 
are  in  me  and  I  in  them."  ^  "  Be  with  heart  fixed  on  me,  loving 
me  and  worshipping  me ;  bow  down  to  me.  Thus  at  rest,  thou 
shalt  come,  even  to  me  the  Spirit."  ^ 

Knowledge  of  God.  —  "  Whoever  knoweth  him,  the  unborn,  be- 
ginningless,  supreme  Lord  of  worlds,  he  among  men  becomes 
liberated  from  all  sins." ''  "  I  am  the  source  of  all ;  owing  to  me 
all  things  work.  Knowing  this,  the  wise,  full  of  love,  worship 
me."  ^ 

"  Arjuna  said,  *  Thou  Supreme  Being,  supreme  power,  sacred  and 
supreme  spirit,  and  eternal,  primeval  god,  unborn,  all-pervading, 
thee  thus  they  call  .  .  .  All  that  thou  sayest  to  me  I  believe  to  be 
true,  O  Lord.  Thy  Majesty  is  indeed  not  known,  O  thou  Supreme 
Spirit  by  thyself;  thou  knowest  thyself,  thou  Creator  of  all,  thou 
Lord  of  all,  God  of  gods,  and  Master  of  the  universe.'  "  ^ 

^  Bhagavad-Gita,  p.  186. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  102.     Translated  by  Chatterie. 

8  Ibid.,  p.  45.  ■*  Ibid.,  p.  151.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  155. 

«  Ibid.,  p.  156.  ''  Ibid.,  p.  159.  »  Ibid.,  p.  160. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  162. 


220  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Qod,  —  «  The  splendor  of  this  great  Soul  may  haply  be  likened 
to  the  radiance  of  a  thousand  suns  at  once  risen  in  the  heavens,"  ^ 

"Thou  art  the  exhaustless,  supreme  goal  of  knowledge,  thou 
art  the  supreme  support  of  this  universe,  thou  art  changeless,  the 
Protector  of  the  unchanging  law  of  righteousness;  thou  art  the 
Eternal  Spirit;  this  is  my  faith."  ^ 

"  Thou  art  the  primeval  God,  the  ancient  Spirit.  Of  this  uni- 
verse thou  art  the  Father,  and  the  object  of  veneration,  the  greatest 
of  the  great.  There  is  none  equal  unto  thee.  How  can  there  be 
a  superior,  O  thou  with  majesty,  imaged  in  the  three  worlds  ? 
Therefore  bowing  down  and  holding  the  body  so  low,  O  Lord,  I 
prayed  for  grace.  Forgive,  O  Lord,  as  forgives  the  father  the  son, 
the  friend  the  friend,  and  the  lover  the  beloved."  ^ 

"  The  blessed  Lord  spoke  :  '  As  seen  by  thee,  I  may  not  thus  be 
seen  by  the  studies  of  the  Vedas,  nor  by  austere  practices,  nor  by 
the  making  of  gifts,  nor  by  acts  of  worship.  By  self-beautifying 
devotion,  indeed,  I  am  known  and  seen  in  truth,  and  entered 
into.  He  that  worketh  but  for  me,  for  whom  I  am  the  supreme 
good,  who  is  devoted  to  me,  having  no  delight  in  things,  and 
devoid  of  hostility,  cometh  unto  me.'  "  * 

In  studying  the  ancient  faiths  one  often  asks,  What  are 
the  enduring  ideas  for  the  human  soul?  When  we  enter 
that  unknown  spiritual  life,  what  must  be  our  highest 
thoughts?  They  cannot,  of  course,  be  the  prevailing 
subjects  of  thought  here, —the  means  of  living,  the  steps 
of  ambition,  the  comforts  of  the  body,  the  dreams  of  pas- 
sion, the  pride  of  wealth;  they  cannot  even  be  of  the 
triumphs  of  sects  or  the  honors  of  churches. 

The   human   mind,    entering  that   great  void,   must  of 

1  Bhagavad-Gita,  p.  171-  ^  Ibid.,  p.  172. 

«  Ibid.,  p.  176.  *  Ibid.,  p.  178. 


HINDUISM.  221 

necessity  ask  itself  the  Hindu  questions,  What  is  God? 
How  can  we  approach  him;  how  live  in  him  forever;  how 
be  freed  from  the  hniitations  of  the  body  and  the  remem- 
bered temptations  of  the  senses ;  how  hve  eternally  in 
purity  and  disinterestedness  ;  how  be  prepared  for  the 
hi<^hcst  spiritual  union  with  Brahma,  or  Varuna,  or  what- 
ever be  the  name  of  the  Unnamable  One? 

These  and  similar  are  the  profound  objects  of  reflection 
of  the  Brahman  saints  and  poets.  These  questions  they 
have  striven  over  and  over  to  answer.  At  times  the  Hindu 
seers  seem,  so  far  as  human  beings  can,  to  have  attained 
the  highest  inspiration  in  these  grand  themes.  But  no 
great  teacher  or  prophet  had  early  showed  to  them,  by 
both  life  and  words,  the  necessary  connection  of  action 
and  belief,  of  life  and  faith.  Practical  morality  had  not  to 
many  become  the  expression  of  religion.  Then  the  natu- 
ral explanations  of  moral  problems  through  pre-existence 
and  future  transmigrations  led  them  into  wild  theories,  and 
pantheism  had  its  natural  influence  in  obscuring  moral  dif- 
ferences. Yet  many  in  the  line  of  Hindu  thinkers  are  pre- 
cisely in  harmony  with  the  Christian  Mystics,  and  believed 
as  we  should  all  believe  without  the  revelation  of  Christ. 
They  accepted  the  Unknown  God.  The  highest  bliss  of 
an  endless  life  was  to  be  in  union  with  him. 

Yet  these  the  noblest  thoughts  and  aspirations  of  the 
highest  thinkers  of  India  which  we  have  quoted  give  a 


222  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

very  imperfect  and  false  idea  of  the  religions  of  India. 
There  was,  indeed,  an  inspiration  of  the  Unknown  God 
among  the  people.  There  were  no  doubt  considerable 
numbers  who  worked  righteousness  in  love  to  him,  and 
were  acceptable  to  him.  But  no  other  history  and  no 
human  experience  is  so  clear  a  proof  of  the  practical  curse 
to  a  people  which  lies  in  a  false  philosophy  and  imperfect 
religion  as  the  confused  records  of  Hindu  thought  afford. 
The  combination  of  pantheism  and  idolatry  seems  to  be 
the  worst  possible  spiritual  atmosphere  for  a  people. 

The  belief  in  re-birth,  previous  existence,  and  future 
transmigration  became  almost  stamped  congenitally  on 
the  Hindu  mind.  It  overshadowed  existence  from  the 
earliest  moment  with  the  deepest  darkness.  The  devout 
and  thoughtful  worshipper  saw  no  escape  from  it,  except 
after  miUions  of  aeons  in  the  absolute  cessation  of  personal 
existence  by  absorption  in  God.  Pain  and  suffering  and 
sin  were  the  necessary  accompaniments  of  conscious  life 
through  all  possible  existences  till  the  soul  entered  into 
the  Infinite  Spirit.  There  was  no  thought  of  a  limited 
spirit  "  doing  the  work"  of  an  unlimited  Being,  lessening 
sin,  relieving  pain,  curing  sickness,  scattering  happiness, 
until  at  length  he  arrives  at  such  a  moral  union  with  Him 
that  he  lives  in  his  life  and  works  his  work.  The  mortal  is 
simply  purified  and  disciplined  by  the  pains  and  penalties 
of  endless  transmigrations,  until  he  is  swallowed  up  in  God 
and  ceases  any  more  to  be  himself.     As  various  passages 


HINDUISM.  223 

in  the  Vedas  and  from  later  poems  show,  there  were  indi- 
viduals among  the  Brahmans  who  attained  a  much  higher 
idea  of  the  union  with  the  Divine;  but  the  other  is  the 
prevailing  view.  A  death-shadow  rested  on  the  Hindu 
intellect,  —  the  thought  of  sin  and  pain  and  its  eternal 
continuance. 

Then  a  low  mythology  corrupted  morals,  and  pantheism 
destroyed  the  sense  of  personal  responsibility  for  wrong- 
doing. Hence  sprang  practical  social  evils  in  India,  be- 
longing to  a  very  low  condition  of  human  society,  which 
have  lasted  to  the  present  day. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

BUDDHISM. 

The  mission  of  the  Lord  Buddha  is  mercy  seeking  to  save. 

Words  of  a  Buddhist  (Edkins). 
God  in  the  fortn  of  Mercy. 

Ancient  Inscription  on  a  Statue  of  Buddha. 

OF  all  religious  phenomena  in  the  history  of  the  human 
mind,  Buddhism  has  been  —  next  to  Judaism  and 
Christianity  —  the  most  remarkable  and  the  most  wide- 
reaching.  The  prayers  of  this  faith  are  uttered  by  as 
many  human  beings  as  those  of  Christianity/  and  its 
hopes  and  aspirations  and  principles  have  been  the  con- 
solation and  support  and  guidance  of  countless  millions  of 
the  human  race  during  more  than  twenty-four  centuries. 
Its  leading  principles  and  doctrines  were  not  new  even  in 
the  sixth  century  before  Christ.  They  appeared  in  dif- 
ferent forms  for  many  ages  in  the  expression  of  Hindu 
thought  and  in  poetry,  as  has  been  seen  in  the  chapter  on 

1  Scblagintweit  estimates  the  number  of  Christians  in  the  world  at 
350,000,000,  and  of  Buddhists  at  400,000,000;  but  in  China  many 
are  classed  as  Buddhists  who  are  in  reality  followers  of  Confucius. 
Rhys  Davids  estimates  the  Buddhists  at  500,000,000,  and  Christians 
at  327,000,000.  Monier  Williams,  however,  in  his  recent  work  on 
Buddhism,  numbers  the  Buddhists  at  only  about  100,000,000. 


BUDDHISM.  225 

Hinduism.  The  humble  and  reverent  among  the  Brah- 
mans  had  long  ago  received  the  intuition  of  the  Unknown 
God,  the  centre  and  source  of  all  force  and  life,  and  the 
Ideal  of  moral  perfection ;  they  had  believed  that  union 
with  him  brought  infinite  peace,  and  freedom  from  all 
the  sorrows  and  passions  of  life,  —  a  mystical  repose  in 
which  the  soul  was  in  Brahma  and  was  Brahma.^  They, 
too,  like  the  Buddhists,  had  denounced  the  formalism  of 
the  priests  and  the  hypocrites ;  they  had  also  uttered 
those  ideals  of  Universal  Love  which  included  all  castes 
and  classes,  all  beings  above  and  below,  here  and  here- 
after; they,  too,  had  taught  a  divine  patience,  and  had 
grasped  that  highest  conception  of  sympathy  which  could 
make  them  say,  "  Love  your  enemies  ;  "  "  Do  unto  others 
as  ye  would  have  others  do  unto  you."  ^ 

Yet  the  Hindu,  monotheism  had  degenerated  into  every 
species  of  degraded  polytheism  and  idolatry ;  formalism 
and  the  tyranny  of  caste  ruled  all  things ;  selfishness, 
hatred,   and    lust  prevailed ;    or  among   the   higher  intel- 

^  "Asa  weaver  taketh  out  of  a  colored  garment  a  piece,  and  weaveth 
a  new  and  more  beautiful  form,  so  the  spirit  in  death  letteth  this  body 
fall  and  all  its  interests  become  extinguished,  and  prepareth  itself  an- 
other new  form  of  Brahma's  nature,  either  divine  or  human.  ...  As 
he  has  wandered  so  he  becomes  ;  whoever  has  done  good  becomes  a 
good  being,  whoever  evil,  an  evil.  Whoever  is  free  from  desire,  who- 
ever only  desireth  God,  whoever  hath  attained  desire,  from  his  body 
the  powers  do  not  retreat  to  another  body,  but  draw  together  ;  he 
becometh  Brahma,  and  goeth  to  Brahma"  (Oldenberg). 

2  See  the  Maha-bharata  and  earlier  poems. 
15 


226  THE   UNKNOWN  COD. 

lects  a  pantheism  extended  which  extinguished  individual 
worship  and  personal  responsibility. 

Amid  all  these  evils,  some  time  in  the  sixth  ^  century 
before  Christ,  there  appeared  in  northern  India  one  of 
those  great  personalities  who  in  a  measure  draw  their  in- 
spiration directly  from  above.  The  mists  of  legend  shroud 
the  figure,  and  the  peculiar  Oriental  extravagance  of  im- 
agination has  to  an  even  unusual  degree  exaggerated  the 
traits  of  this  gentle  and  disinterested  teacher.  But  it  would 
be  no  more  historical  and  reasonable  to  judge  of  the  real 
features  of  Gotama  Buddha  from  these  grotesque  narra- 
tives, than  it  would  be  to  construct  a  traditional  portrait 
of  Jesus  Christ  from  "  the  Gospel  of  Infancy  "  or  the  "  Vis- 
ions of  Hermas." 

It  has  been  the  good  fortune  or  the  inspiration  of  Chris- 
tianity to  hand  down  narratives  of  its  Founder,  unequalled 
in  simplicity,  terseness,  and  beauty.  It  is  the  misfortune  or 
essential  weakness  of  all  other  forms  of  religion  to  transmit 
documents  of  such  repetition,  puerility,  and  weakness, 
that  the  truth  under  them  is  with  difficulty  traced  and  per- 
ceived. But  we  see  enough  under  the  Buddhistic  legends 
and  traditions  to  understand  the  astonishing  influence  of 
this  personality  about  whom  they  have  gathered. 

It  is  unfortunate  again  that  the  Hindu  and  Chinese  de- 
fective ideas  of  form  and  of  art  have  transmitted  no  suitable 

^  Max  Miiller  places  Buddha's  birth  about  557  B.  c,  and  his  death 
at  477  B.  C.  (Dhammapada,  p.  xxxvi.). 


BUDDHISM.  227 

portrait  or  statue  of  this  remarkable  being;  yet  now  and 
then  among  the  innumerable  representations  of  him  are 
some  of  singular  sweetness  and  nobleness.^  The  deep,  lus- 
trous eyes  which  are  here  pictured  must  have  looked  upon 
human  suffering  with  a  sympathy  never  equalled  in  the 
history  of  man  except  by  One.  When,  at  what  we  may 
call  his  conversion,  or  his  attaining  the  idea  of  Nirv^ana, 
he  said  the  following  words,  we  see  a  compassion  almost 
unknown  among  men  :  — 

"  The  fearful  power  of  error  is  taken  away  from  the  soul,  the  sun 
of  knowledge  is  arisen,  the  gates  of  the  false  way  which  leads  to 
existences  filled  with  misery  are  closed ;  I  am  on  the  other  shore, 
the  pure  way  of  heaven  is  opened,  I  have  stepped  into  the  road  of 
Nirvana.  On  this  road  will  the  oceans  of  blood  and  tears  be  dried 
up,  the  mountains  of  human  bones  be  broken  through,  and  the 
host  of  death  destroyed,  as  the  elephant  overturns  the  reed  hut  of 
the  marsh.  He  who  follows  without  distraction  this  way,  escapeth 
the  wheel  of  re-birth  -  and  the  revolutions  of  the  world.  He  can 
boast  to  himself,  '  I  have  done  what  lay  upon  me  ;  I  have  destroyed 
this  existence  for  myself;  I  will  not  again  be  re-born  ;  I  am  free.'  "  ^ 

1  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  Buddha  of  the  Jamalgiri  sculptures. 
It  is  remarkable  that  the  inscription  beneath  this  noble  figure  is  "  God 
in  the  form  of  Mercy  !  "     (See  Lillie's  Buddhism,  p    145.) 

2  These  lines  well  express  the  horror  of  the  Hindu  at  re-birth : 

A  weary  and  broken-down  man, 

With  sorrow  I  come  to  thy  feet; 
Subdued  by  the  fate  and  the  ban 

That  hides  the  long  future  I  meet, 
I  suffer  without  ceasing  the  pain 

Of  wonderful  infinite  life. 

Folk-Songs  of  Southern  India,  p.  39. 

3  Burnouf. 


228  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

And  yet  we  can  see  that  the  great  teacher  had  not  fully- 
grasped  the  truth  which  can  wipe  away  all  tears.  When 
he  says,  "  As  a  mother  at  the  risk  of  her  life  watcheth  over 
the  life  of  her  child,  her  only  child,  so  also  let  every  one 
cultivate  a  boundless  good-will  towards  all  beings  .  .  . 
above  and  below  and  across,  unobstructed,  without  ha- 
tred, without  enmity,  standing,  walking,  sitting,  or  lying, 
as  long  as  he  be  awake  let  him  devote  himself  to  this  state 
of  mind ;  this  way  of  living,  they  say,  is  the  best  in  this 
world,"  ^  —  when  these  words  come  to  our  ears,  we  hear 
something  of  a  like  voice  to  that  which  said,  "  Come  unto 
me,  all  ye  that  are  weary  and  heavy-laden."  From  a  thou- 
sand legends  and  narratives  we  may  gather  that  to  Gotama, 
the  Enlightened  (the  Buddha),  the  barriers  of  human  self- 
ishness fell  away.  To  him  the  miseries  of  the  poor,  the 
slave,  the  chdnddla  (outcasts),  were  his  own  ;  the  tears  which 
men  had  shed  from  the  beginning,  "  enough  to  fill  oceans," 
were  as  if  falling  from  his  own  eyes.  The  great  pang  of 
sorrow,  piercing  the  heart  of  the  race,  inconsolable,  un- 
speakable, struck  to  his  own  heart.  For  him  the  sin  of 
the  world,  the  unsatisfied  desire,  the  fierce  passion  and 
hatred  and  lust,  poisoned  life,  and  he  cared  for  nothing 
except  for  what  would  change  the  heart  and  remove  this 
fearful  mass  of  evils. 

The  legends  make  this  wonderful  pity  and  disinterested- 

^  Metta  Sutta,  Old  Buddhistic  Writings,  Dhammapada,  Max  Mul- 
ler,  p.  25. 


BUDDHISM.  229 

ness  outrun  all  bounds  of  reason,  as  where  it  is  related  that 
in  one  of  his  previous  existences  he  had  given  his  body  to 
satisfy  the  hunger-cravings  of  a  famished  tiger.  Even  in 
his  final  existence  on  earth  he  is  related  to  have  repeatedly 
refused  heaven,  or  Nirvana,  until  he  had  planted  his  truth 
in  the  world. 

Under  these  legends,  and  the  vi^ords  which  we  have 
quoted  from  him,  and  which  he  undoubtedly  spoke,  we 
see  arise  the  form  of  a  teacher  or  saint  such  as  the  world 
has  not  known  outside  of  Christianity,  —  a  lover  of  man, 
of  purity,  of  truth,  a  healer  of  sorrow  and  sin,  a  despiser  of 
all  luxury  and  wealth  and  power,  a  dreamer  of  a  mental 
state  where  should  be  no  pain  or  sin  or  sorrow  any 
more. 

It  is  but  a  natural  poetry,  that  when  he  appeared  in 
infant  form  on  the  earth,  divine  flowers  fell  all  over  the 
world,  the  dumb  spake,  and  the  blind  saw,  and  no  man 
thought  evil  of  another;  and  when  he  died,  the  earth 
quaked,  and  the  feet  of  the  dead  teacher  were  marked 
with  the  tears  of  men  and  of  angels. 

Where  Gotama  uttered  his  beautiful  words  ought  indeed 
to  be  the  place  among  the  most  sacred  of  the  world.  His 
relics,  were  they  genuine,  should  be  among  the  best  treas- 
ures of  the  earth.  The  followers  of  such  a  teacher  have 
not  really  exaggerated  the  value  of  his  life.  His  genuine 
words  ought  to  be  a  priceless  inheritance  for  all  succeed- 
ing times.     To  have  listened  once  to  those  compassionate 


230  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

tones  should  have  softened  the  hardest  natures ;  to  have 
heard  of  peace  and  purity  and  blessedness  from  those  lips 
ought  to  have  changed  lives  for  all  coming  years.  The 
world  sees  but  few  of  such  men,  and  all  that  belongs  to 
them  is  sacred  forever.  We  may  smile  at  the  grotesque 
legends  and  the  childish  exaggeration  which  have  decked 
a  pure  and  disinterested  life.  Yet  he  who  said,  "  Let  a 
man  overcome  anger  by  love,  let  him  overcome  evil  by 
good,  the  stingy  by  liberality,  the  liar  by  truth ;  "  ^  he  who 
called  the  chandala  and  the  courtesan  to  forsake  their  sins 
and  follow  him,  and  was  obeyed ;  who  gave  up  wealth  and 
honor  and  station  and  power  for  the  sake  of  the  poor  and 
sinful  and  unbefriended ;  who  pictured  a  future  state  of 
beatific  peace  which  no  storm  shall  shake  and  no  time 
decay;  who  warned  men  that  not  in  the  clefts  of  the 
mountains  or  the  depths  of  the  sea,  not  in  life  or  in  death, 
can  they  escape  the  effects  of  an  evil  deed ;  whose  creed 
is  described  by  a  disciple  as  resting  on  one  principle, 
"Mercy  seeking  to  save;"^  who  preached  heart-purity 
and  universal  love  as  the  conditions  of  future  blessed- 
ness,—  such  a  man  must  ever  be  listened  to  as  one  of  the 
world's  benefactors,  or  even  as  a  prophet  partly  inspired 
by  God.^     It  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  at  that  his  most 

1  Dhammapada,  p.  223.  ^  Erlkins :  Buddhism  in  China. 

8  It  has  been  said  of  Buddha,  "  Had  he  been  Christian,  he  would 
have  been  greatest  in  the  presence  of  God,"  —  Si  fuisset  Christianus, 
fuisset  apud  Deum  maximus  (quoted  from  Marco  Polo  by  Beal, 
Catena,  p.  7). 


BUDDHISM.  231 

striking  statue  bears  the  ancient  inscription,  "  God  in  the 
form  of  Mercy." 

In  one  of  the  beautiful  old  stories  of  Buddhism  which 
we  shall  quote,  is  the  touching  narrative  of  the  death  of  a 
simple-minded  Chinese  believer  and  scholar,  whose  dying 
moments  were  comforted  with  the  hope  of  looking  here- 
after on  the  face  of  "  his  loving  and  affectionate  Lord." 
So  millions  of  Buddhists  have  died,  reckoning  it  as  among 
the  purest  joys  of  eternity  that  they  should  look  upon 
his  features  who  was  the  earthly  embodiment  of  infinite 
patience  and  immortal  love. 

Perchance  some  of  those  who  have  been  permitted  to 
know  of  a  higher  embodiment,  may  share  this  sentiment 
towards  the  Hindu  who  of  all  other  sons  of  men  felt  the 
most  for  human  sorrow.  Many  of  us  have  at  times  cher- 
ished the  not  fanciful  hope  that  in  the  ages  of  a  future 
mysterious  existence  it  might  be  graciously  allowed  us  to 
see  the  spiritual  features  of  the  noble  dead.  We  may 
have  imagined  the  rugged  traits  of  him  who  promised 
himself  "  there  as  here  to  spend  his  time  in  questioning 
and  scrutinizing  the  persons  to  see  who  is  wise,  and  who 
seemcth  so  but  is  not;  "^  or  the  high  beauty  of  the  great 
follower  of  Socrates,  who  said,  "  It  is  the  clear  view  of 
truth,  the  possession  of  eternal  beauty,  the  contemplation 
of  absolute  good,  which  makes  up  the  life  of  the  good  and 
happy ;  "  or  the  saintly  face  of  the  beloved  disciple  who 
^  Socrates :  Apol.,  32. 


232  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Uttered  the  highest  rehgious  thought  known  to  man,  "  God 
is  love ;  "  or  the  patient,  seraphic  traits  of  the  "  Angehcal  " 
artist  and  monk  who  on  earth  w^as  said  to  have  almost  be- 
held the  Father  face  to  face.  But  among  them  all  there  is 
none  of  pure  human  birth  whom  so  many  millions  will 
gaze  upon  with  such  unspeakable  gratitude  and  devout 
affection  as  the  Hindu  saint  who  lived  for  the  unhappy 
and  the  sinful,  —  Gotama,  the  Enlightened. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  there  is  something  in 
Buddhism  which  is  akin  to  the  highest  Christian  thought, 
—  a  poetic  Mysticism,  which  may  therefore  be  easily  mis- 
understood. When  Christ  speaks  of  himself  "in  God,"  and 
"  God  in  him,"  and  of  his  followers  in  both,  he  utters  truths 
beyond  the  ordinary  understanding.  When  John  says, 
"God  is  love;  "  or  Paul,  "For  us  to  live  is  Christ;  "  or 
Saint  Augustine  declares  God  "  ineffable  ;"i  or  Justin  Martyr 
speaks  of  "  God  as  not  only  above  all  names  but  above  all 
existence  ;  "  or  Clement  of  Alexandria  states  that  only  by 
laying  aside  all  finite  ideas  of  the  Divine  nature  can  we 
attain  to  a  clear  idea  of  God ;  ^  or  John  of  Damascus  dis- 
courses of  God  as  not  belonging  to  "  things,"  ^  as  beyond 
knowledge  and  being,  —  these  are  one  and  all  Mystics, 
discoursing  of  truths  beyond  human  ken,  yet  in  the  lan- 

1  Hoc  unde  scio,  nisi  quia  Deus  ineffabilis  est  (De  Doct.  Chris- 
tian.). 

2  Strom.,  vii.  689. 

^  ovhiv  yap  tS>v  ovrav  tariv  (De  Fed.  Orth  ,  i.  4). 


BUDDHISM.  233 

guage  of  men.  Still,  under  these  poetic  expressions  will 
be  conveyed  grand  glimpses  of  eternal  truths.  So  when 
we  as  Christians  speak  of  a  "  God  who  can  neither  remem- 
ber nor  forget,"  because  he  lives  in  an  eternal  Now,  and 
of  a  Being  "  unchangeable,"  who  yet  loves  and  suffers  and 
is  righteously  indignant,  we  are  no  more  inconsistent  or 
contradictory  than  the  Buddhist,  who  says  in  the  words  of 
his  sacred  writings,  "  He  is  ignorant  who  declareth  that 
the  Perfect  One  ^  [in  his  beatified  existence]  either  goeth 
or  Cometh ;  for  there  is  no  place  whence  he  should  come 
or  whither  he  should  go ;  he  who  looketh  for  me  through 
any  form  or  sound  shall  never  find  me."  ^  The  Mystic  of 
the  Middle  Ages  says:  "To  God  as  Godhead  appertains 
neither  will,  nor  knowledge,  nor  manifestation,  nor  any- 
thing that  we  can  name  or  say  or  conceive.  But  to  God 
as  God  [Person]  it  belongeth  to  express  himself,  and 
know  and  love  himself."  ^ 

So  the  true  follower  of  Buddha  will  not  admit  that  God 
can  be  a  Person,  because  a  person  belongs  to  time  and 
space,  has  a  beginning  and  an  end,  and  is  thus  defective. 
The  true  God  must  be  absolute,  perfect,  and  eternal.  The 
Christian  position  that  there  may  be  an  eternal  manifes- 

^  Tathagata.  Oldenberg  translates  this  epithet  of  Buddha,  "the 
Perfect  One;"  the  Pali  dictionary  (Childers),  "the  Sentient  Be- 
ing," or  "the  one  who  goes  in  like  manner  "  with  other  beings;  even 
as  Christ  called  himself  "the  Son  of  man." 

2  Sutta  Vajra,  chap.  xx.  and  xxvi. 

^  Theol.  Germ.,  p.  100. 


234  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

tation   in  a  personal   Being  of  an  absolute  Being,  seems 
hardly  to  have  occurred  to  the  Buddhistic  mind.^ 

If  the  reader  will  compare  with  many  Buddhistic  ex- 
pressions the  following  passage  from  that  beautiful  manual 
of  Mysticism  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  "  Theologia  Ger- 
manica,"  he  will  see  the  essential  character  of  Buddhism. 

"  Now  let  us  mark,  where  men  are  enlightened  with  the  true 
light,  they  perceive  that  all  which  they  might  desire  or  choose  is 
nothing  to  that  which  all  creatures,  as  creatures,  ever  desired  or 
chose  or  knew.  Therefore  they  renounce  all  desire  and  choice, 
and  commit  and  commend  themselves  and  all  things  to  the  Eternal 
Goodness.  Nevertheless,  there  remaineth  in  them  a  desire  to  go 
forward  and  get  nearer  to  the  Eternal  Goodness ;  that  is,  to  come 
to  a  clearer  knowledge,  and  warmer  love,  and  more  comfortable 
assurance,  and  perfect  obedience  and  subjection  ;  so  that  every 
enlightened  man  could  say,  '  I  would  fain  be  to  the  Eternal  Good- 
ness what  his  own  hand  is  to  a  man.'  "  '^ 

The  great  difference  in  the  two  kinds  of  Mysticism  is 
the  more  distinct  personality  in  the  Christian's  belief  of 
God,  and  this  is  the  key-note  to  the  defect  in  Buddha's 
teachings.  But  it  is  on  the  most  important  dogma  of 
Buddha's  teachings  that  Mysticism  has  had  its  greatest 
power,  and  where  uncertainty  has  done  the  most  evil,  — 
that  of  Nirvana. 

The    early   Buddhist,    and    probably   Buddha    himself, 

could  not  admit  any  personality  in  an  absolute  God ;   and 

^  Yet  in  one  hymn  we  hear  of  "  non-eternal  thoughts  coming  from 
an  eternal  Thinker."     (See  chapter  on  Hinduism.) 
2  Theol.  Germ.,  p.  28. 


BUDDHISM.  2ZS 

SO  in  regard  to  a  state  of  perfect  blessedness  they  could 
not  admit  the  limitations  of  personality  as  we  see  it  in 
this  life.  As  the  follower  of  Taulcr,  in  the  extracts  wc 
have  just  given,  dreams  of  a  state  where  is  "  no  desire," 
so  the  early  disciple  of  Gotama  constructs  an  existence 
where  is  no  desire,  no  want,  no  pain  or  sorrow  or  sin.  It 
is  not  a  dreamless  sleep.  Surely  it  cannot  be  annihilation 
which  could  call  forth  that  enraptured  exclamation  from 
Buddha  when  he  first  grasped  the  idea  of  Nirvana,  which 
wc  have  quoted,  where  he  sees  "  the  ocean  of  tears  and 
blood  of  humanity  dried  up,  the  mountains  of  human 
bones  removed,  and  the  hosts  of  death  destroyed."  ^  It  is 
not  nothingness  which  could  inspire  such  paeans  of  praise 
and  gratitude  in  different  ages  from  devout  Buddhists. 
Besides,  the  state  of  Nirvana  begins  at  times  before  death ; 
it  thus  began  with  Gotama  and  some  of  his  most  sancti- 
fied followers.  It  is  not  a  cessation,  it  is  rather  a  con- 
summation. It  is  the  fruit  of  one  life  or  many  lives,  of 
service  to  other  beings,  of  purity,  self-control,  and  the 
uttermost  self-sacrifice.  We  shall  quote  great  numbers  of 
ancient  texts  describing  this,  the  Buddhist's  heaven.  But, 
unlike  our  idea  of  heaven,  it  is  not  in  any  place  or  time,^ 

1  Burnouf,  p.  462, 

2  This  passage  from  an  ancient  Buddhistic  sermon  shows  how 
mystical  was  the  Buddhist's  idea  of  time  as  relating  to  future  life : 
"  Whoever,  after  having  washed  away  all  sins,  within  and  without, 
does  not  enter  Tiwe  among  gods  and  men.  who  are  subject  to  time, 
him  they  call  cleansed  "  (Sutta  Nipata,  521),  "  The  ascetic  is  freed 
from  Time  "  (8S0). 


236  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

It  is  a  state  of  consciousness,  a  moral  condition  of  each 
sentient  being.  When  the  Christian  Mystic  says,  "  If  a 
man  neither  carcth  for  nor  seeketh  nor  desireth  anything 
but  the  Eternal  Good  alone,  and  seeketh  not  himself  nor 
his  own  things,  he  is  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  he 
is  as  safe  in  hell  as  in  heaven,"  ^  he  but  describes  the 
Buddhist  Nirvana.  There  is  possible,  as  all  Christians 
believe,  such  a  union  of  the  soul  with  the  Divine,  such 
freedom  from  selfishness  and  sensual  desires,  that  peace 
surrounds  it  like  an  atmosphere ;  the  low  cares  and  bodily 
passions  of  life  cease,  hatred  and  malice  are  dried  up,  the 
heart  lives  in  the  happiness  of  others,  and  no  shadow  can 
darken  the  light  or  rufBe  the  surface  of  that  beatific 
peace.  This  is  the  "  peace  passing  understanding  "  of  the 
Christian. 

It  is  true  that  the  root  of  Nirvana ^  means  "blowing 
out;  "  but  these  texts  show  it  is  the  blowing  out  of  the 
fires  of  lust  and  hatred  and  passion. 

The  Hindus  before  Buddha  conceived  such  a  beatitude 
as  the  fruit  of  union  with  Brahma.  It  is  probable  that  in 
Buddha's  mind,  behind  his  thought  of  blessedness,  was 
the  idea  of  an  Infinite  and  Absolute  Spirit, —  Atman ;  ^ 
but  whether  he  ever  regarded  Brahma  as  the  absolute 
God  is  doubtful.  It  is  more  probable  that  to  him  Brahma 
and  all  the  gods  of  the  Hindu  pantheon  were  grand  be- 

1  Theologia  Germanica,  p.  36.  ^   Fa, —  to  blow  out. 

3  Oldenberg's  Life  of  Buddha,  p.  31. 


BUDDHISM.  237 

ings,  who  began  to  be  and  should  yet  come  to  an  end, 
who  were  related  to  time,  to  "becoming  and  ceasing;" 
but  the  condition  of  which  he  dreamed,  and  towards  which 
he  unceasingly  aspired,  had  no  connection  with  time,  with 
birth  and  death.  It  was  absolute  and  eternal.  In  this 
state  of  beatification,  the  curse  of  existence  to  the  Indian 
mind  —  the  ever-recurring  birth  and  death  —  had  passed 
away.     There  was  everlasting  rest  and  unsullied  holiness. 

But  there  were  vital  defects  in  this  doctrine.  The 
statements  easily  led  the  disciple  towards  a  belief  in  a 
quietude  which  was  equivalent  to  non-existence.  There 
are  texts  even  in  very  ancient  Buddhistic  sermons  ^  which 
point  to  annihilation;  but  the  immense  majority  of  verses 
and  discourses  are  full  of  faith  and  hope  in  future  blessed- 
ness. The  very  vivid  and  natural  presentation  of  Buddha's 
Socratic  discussions  with  the  extreme  worshippers  of  the 
Vedas,^  which  we  shall  quote,  is  a  remarkable  proof  of 
this.  In  these  he  demonstrates  by  question  and  answer 
that  a  union  of  the  soul  with  Brahma  must  mean  a  like- 
ness of  the  soul  in  love  and  truth  and  purity  with  the 
Divinity,  who  is  perfect,  and  that  Nirvana  must  consist  in 
this  state  of  mind,  for  which  his  disputants  were  by  no 
means  prepared.  In  ancient  Buddhism,  Nirvana,  says 
Beal,^   has    four   prominent   characteristics,  —  personality, 

1  Davids  :  Buddhistic  Suttas. 

^  Tevigga  Sutta,  in  Davids'  Budd.  Suttas,  p.  203. 

3  Beal's  Catena,  p.  154. 


238  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

joy,  purity,  and  permanence.  In  later  Buddhism  it  often 
is  defined  as  "  restoration  to  the  true  condition  of  being." 
In  all  the  reported  words  of  Gotama,  salvation,  or  Nirvana, 
is  always  conditional  on  a  change  of  heart  in  this  life. 

The  great  want  in  Buddha's  teaching,  however,  was  the 
clear  and  distinct  presentation  of  God  as  Father.  It  may 
have  lain  back  in  his  mind  when  he  pictured  the  state  of 
perfect  blessedness  hereafter;  it  seems  sometimes  to  be 
assumed  in  his  arguments,  as  we  have  noted ;  ^  but  the 
lack  of  it  is  the  fatal  defect  of  Buddhism,  and  unfits  it  to 
be  the  absolute  religion  of  mankind.  In  heartfelt,  unselfish 
sympathy  with  the  woes  of  humanity,  and  in  unceasing 
aspirations  for  purity  and  holiness,  in  entire  sacrifice  for 
men,  even  the  lowest  and  poorest,  in  a  love  encompassing 
all  creatures,  Gotama  Buddha  has  but  One  surpassing  him 
in  human  history.  But  some  of  the  humblest  followers  of 
that  One  have  stood  far  above  the  Hindu  saint  in  the 
consciousness  of  God,  and  in  the  relation  to  him  as  an 
Infinite  Father.  It  is  this  want  which  will  make  Buddhism 
less  and  less  a  power  in  the  advancing  progress  of  the 
race.  Yet  Gotama  was  undoubtedly  inspired  to  a  certain 
degree  by  the  Divine  Spirit;  he  did  not  for  some  reason 
accept  or  receive  full  inspiration.  He  was  an  instrument 
under  Divine  Providence  to  redeem  millions  of  his  own 
people,  and  of  other  peoples,  from  formalism,  idolatry, 
and  selfishness,  from  lust  and  intemperance ;  he  has  given 
^  Tevi":g;a  Sutta. 


BUDDHISM.  239 

a  new  hope  and  love  to  countless  numbers  of  the  human 
race;  he  has  healed  innumerable  wounds,  and  dried  the 
tears  of  millions  of  the  sorrowful  and  oppressed.  Of  him 
could  be  said,  what  was  uttered  ages  ago  by  the  devout 
Egyptian  of  Osiris,  "His  heart  was  in  every  wound  "  ^ 
of  humanity.  He  has  perhaps  prepared  the  way  for 
Christianity.  At  least,  there  is  nothing  in  Buddhism  to 
prevent  the  most  devout  disciple  from  rising  above  it  to 
the  conception  of  a  higher  Nirvana  and  a  more  perfect 
Redeemer;  2  from  Buddha  and  Atman  to  Christ  and  God  ^ 
the  Father. 

The  church  of  Gotama,  not  through  his  influence,  foil 
into  one  great  error,  precisely  similar  to  the  error  of  the 
Christian  church.  It  founded  an  ascetic  and  conventual 
association  which  indeed  had  its  blessings.  It  was,  as 
some  one  has  said,  a  kind   of  international   federation  of 

^  See  Chapter  I.  of  this  work. 

2  Mrs.  Leonowens,  who  was  seven  years  in  the  Court  of  Siam,  and 
saw  the  practical  action  of  Buddhism  on  the  Hves  of  the  ladies  of 
the  Court,  says  in  one  of  her  charming  books  that  on  one  occasion 
she  read  some  of  the  Gospels  to  these  royal  ladies.  They  were  de- 
lighted with  the  history  of  Christ.  "Why,  he  is  just  like  Buddha," 
they  said;  "suppo.se  you  call  Christ  Buddha  and  we  will  call  Buddha 
Christ !  "  On  another  occasion  a  spiritualized  ascetic  heard  her  read 
from  Saint  Paul's  words  on  Charity,  "If  I  give  my  body  to  be 
burned,"  etc.  "  Ye  know  not  the  meaning  of  your  great  Teacher,"  he 
said.  "  Soon  I  shall  pass  on  to  Nirvana,  but  the  ashes  of  my  un- 
worthy body  are  to  be  scattered  on  the  land  of  the  poor  and  needy 
to  enrich  it ;  and  yet.  as  he  saith,  even  that  is  nothing  without  illimi- 
table love."     The  Dhammapada  utters  a  similar  sentiment. 


240  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

good  will,  and  bound  India  and  Thibet  and  China  in 
certain  bonds  of  fellowship.  All  historians  agree  that  the 
faith  of  Buddha  helped  to  civilize  eastern  and  central  Asia, 
and  that,  nearly  at  the  same  time  with  the  first  preaching 
of  Christianity  in  Europe  and  Asia,  it  caused  a  develop- 
ment of  the  arts  in  China,  and  humanized  the  tribes  of 
Thibet  and  the  Mongols,  and  did  much  to  prevent  the 
fierce  invasions  of  these  barbarians  over  eastern  Europe 
in  the  early  Christian  Ages.  Buddhism  became  a  rehgion 
for  all  peoples,  and  softened  the  habits  and  purified  the 
lives  of  many  in  various  nations.  But  the  convent  life 
sowed  unnatural  vices,  cultivated  formalism  and  super- 
stition, cut  off  men  from  industry  and  family  life,  and 
cherished  idleness  among  great  multitudes.  It  has  pro- 
duced a  character  and  mode  of  life  quite  the  opposite  to 
any  taught  by  Gotama  the  Enlightened.  These  effects 
are  not  directly  chargeable  on  the  founder  of  this  church 
any  more  than  the  like  errors  in  Christian  history  are  on 
the  Founder  of  our  faith. 

Its  teachings  against  intemperance  (for  abstinence  was 
one  of  the  commandments)  have  produced  more  effect 
among  Orientals  than  like  instruction  among  European 
races ;  but  this  may  be  a  matter  of  race.  Its  care  of 
animals  and  mercy  to  dumb  creatures  seem  in  advance 
of  Christian  practice.  But  experience  in  both  India  and 
Europe  or  America  shows  that  mercy  to  animals  can  often 
be  consistent  with  great  indifference  or  selfishness  towards 


BUDDHISM.  241 

human  beings ;  as  where  the  paths  of  Hindu  pilgrimages 
are  marked  with  pitiful  forms  of  men  and  women  left  to 
suffer  and  die,  while  dogs  and  cats  and  bullocks  arc  at- 
tentively cared  for.^ 

It  would  however  seem  true  that,  on  the  whole,  enlight- 
ened Buddhists  are  more  faithful  to  their  religion  than 
Christians  to  theirs.  That  is,  the  grand  words  of  Gotama, 
teaching  uttermost  self-denial  and  universal  love,  are  more 
often  made  real  in  the  lives  of  Orientals  than  similar  and 
grander  instructions  of  Christ  are  followed  in  the  practical 
lives  of  European  and  American  Christians.  But  in  such 
judgments  one  may  easily  make  mistakes.  The  few  Buddh- 
ists we  may  know  are  the  chiefs  of  their  peoples,  from  a 
simple  society,  and  resemble  the  saints  of  the  Middle 
Ages;  the  Oriental  masses  may  be  sensual  and  selfish. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  European  and  American  Christian 
belongs  to  industrial  races,  and  to  a  commercial  age.  His 
problem  is  to  carry  on  the  commercial  and  industrial  pro- 
gress of  the  century,  and  yet  to  live  "  in  Christ  and  God  " 
and  serve  mankind,  —  manifestly  a  much  more  difficult 
task  than  ideal  living  in  a  simple  state  of  society.  If  thus 
far  he  has  not  succeeded  in  it,  the  fault  is  not  with  his 
religion. 

It  is  claimed  by  many  that  under  Buddhism  there  is  far 
less  sexual  crime  than  under  Christianity.  Here  also  it  is 
difficult  to  judge.  The  high  standard  of  Christian  peoples 
'  See  Vaughan's  Crescent  and  Cross,  p.  31. 


242  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

in  regard  to  female  purity  tends  to  depress  all  ofifenders, 
and  to  make  the  professionally  lewd  even  lower  than  they 
are  elsewhere.  It  is  probable  that  there  are  proportion- 
ally fewer  "  lost  women  "  in  Ceylon,  or  China,  or  Thibet,  or 
Japan,  or  parts  of  India,  than  in  Europe;  but  it  is  believed 
that  family  life  is  much  purer  under  Christian  inspirations 
than  under  Buddhistic  teachings.  Yet  Gotama's  doctrine 
of  personal  purity  is  the  highest  possible. 

The  superstition  which  has  followed  Buddhism  in  many 
countries  is  certainly  a  most  depressing  fact  in  the  history 
of  human  progress ;  but  almost  equally  bad  effects  have 
followed  Christianity  in  Italy  and  Spain  and  other  coun- 
tries. Neither  class  of  results  is  a  legitimate  effect  of 
the  teachings  of  the  founders  of  these  faiths. 

The  great  practical  contrast  between  the  effects  of  the 
two  faiths  is,  that  under  Buddhism  the  leading  reforms  of 
modern  society,  the  higher  position  of  woman,  the  purifi- 
cation and  elevation  of  marriage,  the  abolition  of  slavery ,i 
the  raising  up  of  the  poor  and  oppressed,  the  liberalizing 
of  political  institutions,  the  doing  away  with  cruelty  ^  and 
violence,    have    all    dragged    slowly,  or  have    never   even 

1  Slavery,  which  had  been  an  object  of  King  Asoka's  reforms 
(250  B.  c),  still  existed  in  the  most  purely  Buddhistic  country,  Ceylon, 
till  its  abolition  by  the  English  in  1845.  It  is  indeed  true  that  the 
treatment  of  illegitimate  children  by  their  parents  is  better  in  Buddhistic 
than  Christian  countries  ;  but  that  is  partly  a  side  result  of  the  higher 
purity  of  the  Christian  races.  The  parents  are  more  ashamed  of  the 
sin,  and  commit  another  sin  to  cover  this. 

2  The  exposure  of  children  still  continues  in  China. 


BUDDHISM.  243 

begun.  It  is  doubtful  if  in  these  respects  two  thousand 
years  have  brought  Buddhistic  countries  any  nearer  the 
doctrines  of  their  great  teacher.  On  tlie  other  hand,  the 
history  of  each  Christian  country  is  of  a  progress,  slow 
but  steady,  towards  the  ideals  of  their  religious  Leader. 
What  might  be  called  the  Gcsta  BuddJice  (the  achievements 
of  Buddha)  are  the  weakening  of  priestly  tyranny  in  India, 
the  lessening  of  the  power  of  caste,^  the  encouragement 
of  monogamy,  the  improving  of  the  position  of  woman, 
humanity  to  animals,  the  diminution  of  bloodshed,  and 
above  all,  the  cultivation  of  spiritual  and  moral  life  instead 
of  ceremonial  and  professional  religion,^  and  the  employ- 
ment of  missionaries  of  religion.  But  the  present  moral 
and  spiritual  condition  of  India  and  China  shows  how  far 
behind  are  these  reforms  to  the  Gcsta  Clwisti  made  mani- 
fest in  Europe  and  America. 

It  can  only  be  said  that  Christianity  contains  within 
itself  the  seeds  of  reform  and  progress,  while  Buddhism 
degenerates.  The  life  and  gospel  of  Jesus  the  Christ 
are  from  the  Eternal  Goodness,  from  God  himself,  and 
so  must  ever  work  towards  the  redemption  of  man.  The 
life  and  law  (Dhamma)  of  Gotama  the  Enlightened  have 
an    inspiration   indeed  from  the  Unknown  God,   but  not 


^  Caste  has  endured,  however,  for  centuries  in  the  purest  Buddhistic 
country,  Ceylon. 

2  Yet  the  most  extended  and  formal  ceremonial  church  in  the  world 
has  been  planted  by  it  in  Thibet  and  China. 


244  ^-^^    UNKNOWN  COD. 

sufficiently  clear  and  powerful  to  save  the  race.  The 
one,  Christianity,  has  behind  it  the  long  inspiration  of 
the  Jewish  sacred  writings,  and  the  relation  of  the  Jewish 
people  to  Jahveh,  or  God,  No  such  monotheistic  inspi- 
ration exists  elsewhere  in  human  history.  The  other, 
Buddhism,  has  for  a  source  the  lofty  but  confused  con- 
victions and  wild  fancies  of  Brahmanism,  where  too  often 
pantheism  took  the  place  of  a  belief  in  a  God  of  love. 

Certain  able  writers^  have  taken  the  position  that  Buddh- 
ism is  an  utterly  "  false  religion,"  that  it  does  not  teach 
the  existence  of  the  soul  or  the  being  of  God,  offers  only 
annihilation  to  the  believer,  and  has  but  little  practical 
influence  on  human  life.  This  is  evidently  an  extreme 
ground,  and  without  a  fair  consideration  of  all  the  facts. 
No  earnestness  in  defending  Christianity,  or  love  for  its 
Divine  Author,  should  lead  Christian  writers  to  ignore  any 
good  features  in  ethnic  religions,  or  any  facts  in  their 
favor.  The  truth  seems  to  be  that  Buddhism  has  passed 
through  certain  changes  of  belief,  as  all  religions  tend  to 
do.  Lillie  ^  says  that  an  analysis  of  an  ancient  Buddhistic 
writing,  the  Lalita  Vistara,  shows  three  Buddhistic  schools 
of  thought:  one,  the  earliest,  where  Brahma  is  held  to  be 
the  Supreme  God  ;  the  second,  in  later  development,  where 

1  Kellogg  has  written  a  learned  and  vigorous  little  book  on  this 
theme,  —  "The  Light  of  Asia,  and  the  Light  of  the  World," 

2  History  of  Buddhism,  p.  114, 


BUDDHISM.  245 

Buddha  becomes  God ;  and  the  third,  or  still  later  meta- 
physical school,  where  annihilation  is  taught.  In  a  suc- 
ceeding chapter  we  shall  quote  especially  from  one  most 
ancient  Buddhistic  writing,  the  Hhammapada  (Religion's 
Path),  which  Max  Muller  believes  to  contain  the  very 
words  supposed  to  be  spoken  by  Buddha,  and  thus  accred- 
ited to  him  in  the  Council  of  Asoka  within  one  hundred 
and  thirty  years  of  the  death  of  the  master.  This  and 
some  of  the  ancient  sutras,  or  discourses,  contain  the 
oldest  reported  sayings  and  teachings  of  Gotama.  We 
defy  any  of  our  readers  to  read  candidly  these  words, 
coming  down  from  a  great  antiquity,  and  at  the  same  time 
gather  the  impression  that  the  writers  doubted  the  exist- 
ence of  the  soul,  or  of  God,  or  a  future  life.  Some  ex- 
pressions there  are  indeed  pointing  towards  annihilation  ^ 
as  the  future  destiny  of  the  soul ;  but  they  are  vastly  out- 
weighed by  other  and  more  hopeful  expressions.  The 
older  the  writing  or  tradition,  the  more  full  of  hope  and 
faith  in  the  future.  It  is  true  that  under  Buddhism,  as 
under  Christianity,  mystical  expressions  sometimes  seem 
to  exclude  the  existence  of  a  personal  Ego,  or  a  per- 
sonal God ;  but  the  general  drift  is  towards  a  continued 
existence  of  the  soul   (for  Karma ^  itself  must  mean  the 

^  See  Sutta  Nipiita  (1072-1075). 

2  Karma  expresses  a  highly  mystical  idea,  —  the  indestructible 
consequences  of  sin  following  each  human  soul  in  eternity  constituting 
its  punishment,  and  condemning  it  to  continued  transmigrations  into 
lower  forms  of  life  ;  but  apparently  in  such  changes  the  memory  or 


246  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

moral  effects  of  action  continued  with  a  given  spiritual 
being),  and  towards  a  belief  in  an  intelligent  moral  Power 
over  the  universe. 

Lillie  quotes  from  an  ancient  Buddhistic  writing  that 
there  "  is  a  place  called  Nirvanapura,  where  is  neither 
misery  nor  death,  but  the  good  enjoy  happiness  for- 
ever; "^  and  eternal  punishment  in  hell  is  threatened  "to 
those  who  teach  Nirvana  to  be  death  or  annihilation."^ 

Mr.  Kellogg,  in  his  excellent  little  book  on  Buddhism, 
wisely  calls  attention  to  the  great  contrast  between  the 
historical  credibility  of  the  Christian  documents  and  those 
of  Buddhism,  the  former  going  back  to  contemporary 
witnesses,  and  the  latter  founded  on  oral  tradition  for 
centuries,  and  put  in  writing  several  hundred  years  after 
the  occurrences.  But  the  Christian  religion  depends  for 
its  credibility  both  on  the  trustworthiness  of  its  witnesses 
and  on  its  essential  character.  Buddhism,  however,  rests 
mainly  on  its  moral  and  spiritual  drift.  The  extravagant 
and  childish  miracles  which  its  legends  have  ascribed  to 
its  author  give  no  weight  to  its  claims,  but  rather  weaken 
them.  The  great  things  to  be  demonstrated  are,  "  What 
did  Gotama  teach,  and  what  kind  of  man  was  he?"  Oral 
tradition  and  great  varieties  of  ancient  documents  enable 

consciousness  of  identity  may  at  times  be  lost.  A  poetic  rendering  of 
the  idea  of  Karma  would  be,  — 

"  Our  deeds  follow  us  from  afar ; 
And  what  we  have  been,  makes  us  what  we  are." 
1  Lillie's  Buddhism,  p.  123.  2  Upham's  Sacred  Books,  iii.  18. 


BUDDHISM.  247 

the  historical  student  or  the  candid  inquirer  to  get  near 
the  true  answer  to  these  questions,  even  without  tlie  testi- 
mony of  eye-witnesses. 

The  true  personahty  of  Abraham  or  Moses  rises  up  be- 
fore us  distinctly,  and  yet  it  is  doubtful  if  we  have  any- 
thing but  oral  tradition  and  later  writing  for  an  historical 
basis  of  their  characters.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  do 
also  see  with  distinctness  the  true  moral  nature  of 
Gotama  Buddha,  and  that  his  teachings  arc  definite  and 
characteristic. 

The  Asoka  hiscriptioiis.  —  But  a  new  source  of  evidence 
has  appeared  in  the  past  few  years  in  regard  to  Buddha 
and  his  teachings,  which  perhaps  modern  objectors  to  this 
faith  have  not  duly  considered.  About  one  hundred  and 
twcnt}'--five  years  after  the  death  of  Buddha  appeared  in 
India  a  king  or  emperor,  originally  of  the  kingdom  of 
Magadha,  but  who  subsequently  became  monarch  of  two 
thirds  of  the  vast  territory  of  Hindustan.  His  probable 
ancestor  (possibly  his  grandfather),  Sandrokottos.  as  the 
Greeks  called  him,  is  related  to  have  been  driven  from 
the  camps  of  Alexander  the  Great  in  the  victorious 
campaign  of  the  latter  in  India.  He  subsequently  re- 
conquered much  of  India.  This  king,  surnamed  Piyadasi' 
(Beloved  of  the  Gods),  but  more  commonly  called  Asoka, 
became  converted  to  Buddhism,  and  is  considered  as  the 
Constantinc  of  this  faith.  In  fact,  if  measured  by  the 
number  of  human  beings  reverencing  his  name  and  obey- 


248  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

ing  his  commands,  not  Caesar  or  Charlemagne  held  so 
great  a  position  in  the  world ;  his  influence  has  extended, 
says  Davids,  "  from  the  Volga  to  Japan,  from  Ceylon  and 
Siam  to  Mongolia  and  Siberia."  ^ 

Fortunately  for  history  this  great  ruler,  or  one  of  his 
line,  about  250  B.  C.  inscribed  his  edicts  on  rocks  and  pil- 
lars over  a  vast  extent  of  territory.  They  are  in  Pali  dia- 
lects, and  during  the  past  fifty  years  have  been  translated 
by  scholars.  They  were  issued  at  the  period  of  the  Punic 
Wars  of  Rome ;  and  yet  no  ruler  of  modern  times  has  sur- 
passed them  in  sentiments  of  lofty  humanity  and  compas- 
sion, or  in  ideas  of  broad  and  noble  toleration.  Wc  shall 
quote  extracts  from  them  in  a  succeeding  chapter.  They 
are  evidently  Buddhistic ;  they  speak  of  the  familiar  triad 
of  Gotama's  followers,  "  the  Lord,  the  Law,  and  the 
Church."  They  allude  with  deep  reverence  to  Buddha; 
they  exhort  to  the  care  and  the  preservation  of  his  sacred 
writings,  or  of  those  in  regard  to  him;  but  they  entirely 
omit  to  teach  the  errors  of  later  Buddhism.  They  speak 
reverently  of  God ;  they  exhort  men  to  goodness  in  view 
of  heaven  and  paradise ;  they  show  unshaken  faith  in  a  life 
to  come,  and  say  nothing  of  a  Nirvana  of  nothingness. 
The  learned  and  royal  author  of  them  speaks  of  ascetics 
as  a  modern  Christian  philosopher  might  do,  declaring 
that  "  ascetics  of  all  shades  of  belief  should  remain  un- 
molested ;  they  all  seek  to  obtain  self-conquest  and  purity 
^  Davids:  Buddhism,  p.  122. 


BUDDHISM.  249 

of  soul.  People  have  different  opinions  and  different  at- 
tachments, and  ascetics  obtain  sometimes  all,  and  some- 
times only  a  part,  of  what  they  long  for."  ^ 

This  wonderful  liberality  has  the  true  ring  of  Buddha's 
teachings,  and  is  in  great  contrast  to  the  ascetic  extrava- 
gancies of  the  holy  order  in  later  centuries.  But  the  great 
similarities  to  Buddha's  doctrine  are  in  the  remarkable  hu- 
manity and  compassion  exemplified  in  these  Rock  Edicts 
of  King  Asoka,  —  a  feeling  and  principle  not  only  far  in 
advance  of  those  of  any  royal  edicts  of  that  day,  but  even  of 
most  similar  proclamations  and  legislation  of  modern  Chris- 
tian kingdoms.  The  humane  king  proclaims  that  slavery 
and  the  use  of  torture  must  be  abolished,  —  reforms  that  in 
Europe  and  America  have  only  been  carried  out  in  the  nine- 
teenth century;  he  orders  capital  punishment  to  be  done 
away  with ;  and  with  a  most  enlightened  humanity  he  com- 
mands medical  aid  to  be  furnished  to  men  and  animals, 
wells  to  be  dug  in  dry  places  for  the  use  of  the  people, 
trees  to  be  planted  to  furnish  shade  for  the  tired  wanderer, 
and  others  for  fruit  for  the  needy.  Villages  arc  to  be  built 
for  the  monks,  the  holy  books  are  to  be  carefully  preserved, 
stupas  (memorial  towers)  are  to  be  erected  for  the  con- 
solation, happiness,  and  advantage  of  men  in  this  world 
and  the  next,  and  "  thus  to  the  end  of  time  this  memorial 
[through  its  relics  and  associations]  would  allow  my  people 
to  gain  heaven."  ^ 

1  Rock  Edict  III.,  Lillie,  p.  (^y  2  Edict  II.,  p.  69. 


250  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Even  the  sacrifice  of  animals,  as  well  as  the  putting 
of  them  to  death,  is  prohibited  ^  on  religious  grounds,  in 
view,  no  doubt,  of  Buddha's  commandment  not  to  kill. 
The  estimate  of  almsgiving  and  prayers  is  precisely  that  of 
Gotama.  "  Religion  consists  in  good  works ;  in  the  non- 
commission  of  many  acts,  in  mercy  and  charity,  purity 
and  chastity.  These  are  to  me  the  anointment  of  con- 
secration. .  .  .  There  is  no  almsgiving  and  no  loving-kind- 
ness comparable  with  the  alms  of  religion."  ^  "  Not  that 
the  Beloved  of  the  Gods  deemeth  offerings  or  prayers  to  be 
of  the  same  value  with  true  spiritual  glory."  ^  The  royal 
disciple,  like  his  master,  inculcates  obedience  to  parents, 
kindness  to  children  and  friends,  mercy  to  brutes,  in- 
dulgence to  inferiors,  reverence  to  priests  and  sages,  the 
suppression  of  anger,  passion,  and  cruelty,  or  extrava- 
gance, and  the  cultivation  of  generosity  and  toleration 
and  charity. 

More  than  two  thousand  years  ago  this  humane  Buddhist 
ruler,  in  advance  of  all  other  princes  and  kings,  founded 
a  remarkable  office,  that  of  Chief  Minister  of  Religion 
(Dhamma),  whose  duty  it  was  to  preserve  the  purity  of 
the  Buddhistic  faith,  and  care  for  the  right  treatment  and 
progress  of  nations  and  subject-races.  Similar  officials 
were  appointed  in  the  dependent  courts  and  other  gov- 
ernments to  watch  and  promote  the  education  of  women 

1  Delhi  Pillar,  Lillie,  p.  63.  2  Edjct  ix.,  p.  69. 

8  Edict  XII. 


BUDDHISM.  251 

in  harems  and  elsewhere  in  the  rehgion  of  Buddha.  These 
commands  are  said  to  have  been  imitated  in  Ceylon  ^  and 
other  Buddhistic  countries.  Can  it  be  wondered  at  that 
under  such  an  enlightened  and  humane  ruler,  a  follower 
of  Sakya  Muni,  his  faith  spread  in  the  next  five  centuries 
as  did  Christianity  in  Europe  and  Asia  in  its  early  ages? 
The  pure  spirit  of  this  disciple  of  the  Saint  of  India  has 
remained  unknown  for  twenty  centuries,  until  these  sen- 
tences written  on  the  rocks  have  come  to  light,  declaring 
what  at  least  were  the  ideals  of  this  religion  in  ages  gone 
by.  Whether  they  were  ever  realized  we  have  no  means 
of  knowing. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Buddhism  almost  utterly 
perished  in  the  land  of  its  birth  (India)  within  a  thou- 
sand or  eleven  hundred  years ;  so  that  in  700  A.  D.  it  was 
scarcely  known  there.  It  probably  died  out  through  its 
own  corruptions  and  could  not  withstand  persecution.  At 
present  it  seems  to  exist  in  its  greatest  vigor  in  Ceylon. 
The  lack  of  definiteness  of  belief  in  a  moral  and  intelligent 
Power  over  the  universe  condemns  it  to  final  extinction. 

The  reader  of  this  and  the  succeeding  chapter  on 
Buddhism  will  often  be  struck  with  the  apparent  resem- 
blances between  this  faith  and  Christianity  in  the  narra- 

^  Tennent  states  that  as  early  as  20  a.d.  a  king  of  Ceylon,  influ- 
enced by  Budcliiism,  caused  fruit-bearing  trees  to  be  planted  through- 
out the  island  (Ceylon,  i.  367). 


252  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

tives  and  the  discourses  of  their  founders.  The  more, 
however,  these  seeming  Hkenesses  are  studied,  the  less 
forcible  they  appear;  and  the  most  able  and  impartial 
scholars  do  not  usually  believe  in  any  influence  of  the 
one  religion  upon  the  other. 

Many  of  the  resemblances  of  the  two  faiths  come  from 
the  modern  translations  of  ancient  Buddhistic  terms. 
The  ideas  of  Sakya  Muni  are  connoted  by  words  from 
Saint  Paul  or  the  Apostles ;  yet  the  two  may  be  far  apart 
as  the  poles  in  their  real  meaning.  There  are,  it  is  true, 
remarkable  similarities,  as  has  been  noticed  by  M.  Hue  and 
other  travellers,  between  the  ceremonial  of  the  Thibetan 
and  Chinese  Buddhistic  Order  and  that  of  some  branches 
of  the  Christian  Church.  This  not  improbably  may  be 
due  to  the  influence  of  the  Nestorians  in  the  sixth  and 
seventh  centuries  in  China.^ 

It  is  of  course  perfectly  possible  that  the  peculiar  tenets 
of  Gotama  Buddha  could  have  trickled  down  through  Es- 
senism  on  early  Christianity.  The  world  even  then  was 
bound  together  by  many  cords  of.  commerce  and  inter- 
course, and  the  thinkers  of  one  country  affected  the 
thoughtful  of  many  other  nations.  But  the  great  contrast 
between  the  Essenians  on  the  one  side  and  Christ  and  the 
early  Christians  on  the  other  in  the  matter  of  abstinence 
and  asceticism,  shows  how  little  the  influence  of  the  first 
touched  the  early  believers  socially.  The  same,  and  even 
1  See  Mosheim,  Ecc.  Hist.,  i.  421. 


BUDDHISM.  253 

more,  may  be  said  of  the  Buddhists.  The  Brotherhood  of 
Gotama  was  an  order  of  ascetics  and  ceHbates ;  the  Church 
of  Christ  was  an  association  of  lovers  of  God  and  of  men, 
who  were  to  be  in  the  world  and  not  of  it.  The  rules  of 
the  latter  consider  men  and  women  as  members  of  families, 
and  carrying  on  the  relations  of  life  in  a  natural  way;  the 
manifold  regulations  of  the  former  —  especially  in  later 
Buddhism —  regard  the  believers  as  members  of  a  convent, 
in  the  most  unnatural  relations.  Moreover,  though  the  end 
and  object  of  the  founders  of  the  two  religions  were  essen- 
tially alike,  that  is,  the  purification  and  exaltation  of  the 
human  soul,  their  means  were  entirely  different.  Gotama 
hoped  for  it,  first  by  a  life  of  utter  self-denial  and  benevo- 
lence, then  by  an  intellectual  operation,  the  fixing  the 
mind  on  charity  and  love,  and  restraining  all  desires,  until 
a  beatific  peace  had  been  attained.  Jesus  Christ  promised 
salvation  by  love,  directed  to  himself  as  a  perfect  Ideal, 
and  through  him  to  the  perfect  and  infinite  Father,  whose 
manifestation  he  was.  The  soul  was  cleansed  through  the 
power  of  affection  and  duty  towards  a  sinless  and  bound- 
less Benefactor  and  an  eternal  Friend.  The  two  methods 
are  world-wide  apart,  and  the  one  could  not  have  in- 
fluenced the  other. 

Christ  promised  an  eternal  conscious  personal  life  with 
the  Father  to  the  believer.  Buddha  promised  peace ; 
but  whether  that  of  everlasting  sleep  or  nothingness,  or 
whether  a  mystical  union  with  Atman,  the  Spirit  of  the 


254  THE    UNKNOWN  COD. 

universe,  is  not  perfectly  clear.  At  all  events,  the  two 
lines  of  belief  could  not  have  arisen  from  each  other. 
The  resemblances  noted  often  arise  from  similar  Oriental 
circumstances,  and  from  the  corresponding  position  of 
elevated  moral  teachers  in  such  countries  as  Palestine 
and  India. 

When  \vc  hear  of  affecting  conversations  with  outcast 
women  "  at  a  well,"  and  of  similes  drawn  from  a  sower 
and  his  work,  and  like  subjects,  we  may  be  sure  that 
in  Oriental  countries  most  teachers  and  reformers  and 
prophets  have  had  similar  experiences.  The  impas- 
sioned words  of  the  spiritual  teacher  against  formalism 
are  probably  alike  under  all  climates.  The  ideals  of 
sympathy  and  purity  and  justice  among  the  most  elevated 
and  self-denying  of  mankind  are  similar  in  all  countries. 
They  are  all  probably  the  expressions  of  a  supernatural 
influence,  a  divine  inspiration  from  the  Unknown  God; 
but  in  Jesus  Christ  they  are  found  perfect. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

SACRED   WRITINGS   OF  BUDDHISM. 

ITow  fleeting  all  things  that  have  together  come  ! 
Their  ftattire  's  to  be  born  and  die. 
Coming  they  go     and  then  is  best. 
When  each  hath  ceased  and  all  is  rest. 

Very  ancient  Buddhistic  Verse. 

''  I  ^HERE  is  of  course  a  difficulty  in  determining  amid 
^  all  the  legends  and  exaggerations  of  the  Buddhistic 
sacred  writings  what  precisely  Gotama  Buddha  said  and 
taught.  Yet  a  certain  harmony  and  consistency  of  state- 
ment can  be  found  in  the  multitudinous  expressions  at- 
tributed to  him,  and  in  the  reports  of  his  many  discourses 
and  sermons.  The  Buddhists  claim  that  their  canon  of 
Scriptures  was  settled  soon  after  the  death  of  Buddha, 
the  date  of  which  may  be  put  at  477  B.  c.^  However  this 
may  be,  many  scholars  agree  that  the  sayings  of  Buddha 
were  carefully  gathered  and  orally  handed  down  within  a 
hundred  years  of  his  death,  or  at  the  time  of  the  Second 
Buddhistic  Council,  377  B.  C.  It  is  probably  to  this  oral 
tradition  that  we  owe  so  many  of  the  puerile  representa- 
tions in  the  Buddhistic  writings,  the  memorizing  aiding 
itself  by  such  artifices. 

1  Max  Miiller  :  Dhammapada,  p.  36. 


256  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

The  most  condensed  and  valuable  of  Buddhistic  writ- 
ings, the  Dhammapada  ("  Religion's  Path,"  or  "  Footsteps 
of  the  Law"),  was  in  existence  in  some  form  at  the  date 
of  the  Council  under  King  Asoka,  242  B.  C,  and  was  sup- 
posed by  its  members  to  contain  the  words  of  Buddha.^ 
Max  Miiller,  however,  inclines  to  put  the  date  of  Asoka 
as  early  as  263-259  B.  c.  The  Dhammapada  was  trans- 
lated into  Chinese  in  the  third  century  A.D.,  and  into  Pali 
in  Ceylon  in  the  fourth,  and  has  been  rendered  into  Thibe- 
tan and  various  Oriental  languages.  The  versions  seem 
substantially  the  same.  It,  with  the  ancient  Suttas  (ser- 
mons), now  translated  2  into  English,  are  invaluable  as 
showing  the  original  conceptions  '  of  this  faith. 

It  is  altogether  incredible  that  so  profound  a  feeling  as 
shows  itself  in  all  Buddhistic  writings  in  regard  to  the 
person  of  Buddha  should  have  gathered  around  a  pure 
figment   of  the   imagination,   a  sun-myth,^   or   a   hero  of 

1  Max  Muller:   Dhammapada,  p.  31.     Sacred  Books  of  the  East. 

2  See  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  Sutta  Nipata,  and  others.  The 
different  spelling  of  Buddhistic  words  comes  from  the  translations  in 
various  languages. 

3  An  able  and  learned  French  scholar,  M.  Senart,  has  written  a 
very  ingenious  argument  to  prove  that  the  whole  story  of  Buddha  is 
a  solar  myth  (Essai  sur  La  Legende  du  Buddha).  Dr.  Oldenberg  an- 
swers this  very  convincingly.  One  of  his  strongest  points  is  that  the 
oldest  Buddhistic  records  —  the  Southern  Pali  stories  and  documents 
—  are  the  most  free  from  mythical  features,  and  seem  simply  an  his- 
torical narrative  ;  while  later  poems  and  legends,  such  as  the  Lalita 
Vistara  of  the  northern  Buddhists,  seem  much  bedecked  with  fanciful 
and  mythical  features.     The  older  the  documents  the  more  like  per- 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDH/SM.  257 

poetic  fancy;  and  all  this  beginning  (if  scholars  are  cor- 
rect) within  a  century  of  the  reported  death  of  its  subject. 
Moreover,  the  figure  shadowed  forth  in  the  legends,  and 
around  which  arc  formed  the  traditions,  is  a  harmonious 
conception,  of  the  same  general  character  in  all  the  records 
and  stories ;  and  the  teachings  in  all  the  earlier  reported 
conversations  and  sermons  are  consistent  with  one  another. 
They  are  often  extremely  metaphysical  and  mystical  ; 
they  are  marked  by  great  omissions  and  profound  earnest- 
ness ;  but  they  are  like  one  another.  The  teachings  of 
the  Dhammapada,  the  Sutta  Nipata,  and  many  very  an- 
cient sermons  attributed  to  Buddha,  seem  to  proceed 
from  one  mind,  or  from  various  minds  imbued  with  the 
ideas  of  one  teacher.  They  have  a  like  character.  They 
must  have  emanated  from  one  source,  or  under  similar 
influences. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  they  have  little  resemblance 
to  the  sayings  of  Christ.  These  were  designed  for  the 
poor  and  needy,  for  the  babes  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ; 
they  show  an  unequalled  simplicity  and  directness;  they 
have  the  freshness  of  divine  inspiration,  the  glow  of 
heavenly  communion.  Buddha's  words,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  addressed  to  the  intellectual.  They  relate  above 
all   to    ideal    and    metaphysical   conceptions.      They   rest 

sonal  and  real  history.  That  some  features  of  ancient  solar  myths 
should  become  attached  to  the  lives  of  historical  popular  heroes  is 
perfectly  natural. 

17 


258  THE    UAKNOIVN  GOD, 

especially  on  certain  great  ideas  in  the  field  of  specula- 
tion, which  (whether  true  or  false)  are  entirely  beyond  the 
grasp  of  ordinary  men  and  women.  Such  conceptions  as 
Karma,  or  the  endurance  of  the  moral  effects  of  each  life 
during  succeeding  lives  without  a  conscious  personality; 
or  of  a  soul  which  is  a  bundle  of  faculties  or  sensations 
and  perceptions  where  each  is  dissolved  and  yet  something 
survives:  or  of  a  great,  unspeakable,  impersonal  Spirit 
(Atman)  which  has  no  relation  to  time  or  space  or  any 
term  in  human  thought;  or  a  mental  state  (Nirvana) 
which  at  times  appears  to  belong  not  to  person,  or  time, 
or  place,  or  any  human  condition,  —  such  mystical  ideas 
or  imaginations,  it  is  obvious,  are  not  for  the  masses  of 
mankind. 

But  the  great  truths  which  in  innumerable  expressions 
are  preached  in  Buddhistic  writings  are  practical,  and  be- 
long to  all  ages  and  races.  They  are  (i)  the  fearful  exist- 
ence of  human  suffering,  (2)  its  cause,  (3)  its  extinction, 
and  (4)  the  path  which  leads  to  this  extinction.  Here  are 
topics  which  must  interest  the  human  mind  while  the 
world  endures. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  Buddhism,  as  it  has 
appeared  in  human  history,  confines  itself  to  these  simple 
and  grand  topics.  Its  early  history  —  as  is  true  of  all  re- 
ligions—  is  the  more  simple  and  more  inspired  with  great 
truths.  It  gradually  degenerates  into  mysticism,  tran- 
scendental religion,  and  formalism,  and  it  ends  with  build- 


SACRED    WRITINGS   OF  BUDDHISM.  2$') 

ing  up  a  church,  the  most  ceremonial  and  external  in 
spirit  which  has  ever  existed,  and  with  negations  which 
are  destroying  its  influence  over  morals  and  the  practical 
life  of  men  and  women. 

DJunnmapada. — This  remarkeible  book,  it  should  be 
remembered,  is  only  a  small  portion  of  the  Three  Pitakas 
(Collections),  the  Buddhistic  Canon;  but  it  is  of  the  most 
undoubted  antiquity,  and  may  fairly  be  put  back  (at  least 
in  form)  to  250  B.C. 

The  Maker.  —  "Looking  for  the  Maker  of  this  tabernacle,  I 
must  run  through  a  course  of  re-births  so  long  as  I  do  not  find 
him.  Painful  is  birth  again  and  again.  But  now,  Maker  of  this 
tabernacle,  thou  hast  been  seen  ;  thou  shalt  not  make  up  this 
tabernacle  any  more  !  All  thy  rafters  are  broken ;  thy  ridge-pole 
is  sundered.  The  mind  approaching  Nirvana  hath  attained  the 
extinction  of  all  desires."  ^ 

The  above  verse  is  one  of  the  most  famous  and  ancient 
of  the  Buddhistic  texts,  believed  to  be  the  words  of 
Gotama  himself  on  attaining  the  idea  of  Nirvana.  They 
are  supposed  by  scholars  not  to  refer  to  any  belief  in  a 
Creator;  but  they  seem  to  me  consistent  with  Buddha's 
shadowy  belief.  Under  the  law  of  Karma  the  saint  has 
run  through  birth  after  birth,  but  has  not  hitherto  been 
fitted  by  suffering  to  leave  mortality  and  see  the  Atman, 
or  Spirit  of  the  Universe.  But  now  he  is  emancipated ; 
he  has  attained  Nirvana;  he  has  left  the  body  and  all 
bodily  effects ;  he  knoweth  God,  and  bids  defiance  to  the 
1  Dhammapada,  pp.  153,  154. 


26o  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

body  which  has  imprisoned  him  so  long.  Even  the  In- 
finite One  cannot  replace  him  in  the  sad  chain  of  earthly 
sin  and  sorrow.  There  is  indeed  in  these  strange  words 
no  sense  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  They  are  world  wide 
from  the  words  of  Jesus,  but  they  are  not  the  words  of  an 
atheist. 

The  Uncreated.  — ''li  thou  hast  learned  the  destruction  of 
the  Sankhdra  (the  conformations),  thou  knowest  the  Uncreated."  ^ 

"  If  thou  hast  learned  that  all  human  action  and  faculty 
and  thought,  and  all  conformations  of  human  powers,  are 
illusions  and  impermanent,  thou  knowest  the  Eternal,  or 
God  himself" 

Morals.  — Buddha  being  asked  what  is  a  true  Brahman, 
or  sage,  answers :  "  He  is  a  true  sage  who  hath  banished 
all  wickedness  from  himself,  who  knoweth  nothing  of  mock- 
ery and  nothing  of  impurity,  a  self-conqueror."  ^ 

The  five  great  commandments  supposed  to  be  given  by 
Buddha  are:  Thou  shalt  not  kill;  thou  shalt  not  steal; 
thou  shalt  not  commit  impurity;  thou  shalt  not  speak  an 
untruth;  thou  shalt  not  drink  intoxicating  drinks.  It  is 
often  impressed  on  •  the  followers  of  Buddha  that  sin  is 
above  all  in  the  thoughts. 

"  Whoever  speaketh  or  acteth  with  impure  thoughts,  him  suffering 
followeth,  as  the  wheel  the  feet  of  the  steed  ;  whoever  acteth  with 
pure  thoughts,  him  joy  followeth  like  a  shadow  which  never  leaves 
one.  ...  If  a  man  live  a  hundred  years  and  spend  the  whole  of  his 

1  Dhammapada,  p.  383.  ^  oidenberg  (German.),  p.  120. 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDHISM.  261 

time  in  religious  attention  and  offerings  to  the  gods,  sacrificing  ele- 
phants and  horses,  all  this  is  not  ecjual  to  one  act  of  pure  love  in 
saving  hfe."  ^ 

Thought. —  "This  body  of  thine  shall  soon  return  to  the  earth, 
thy  form  destroyed,  thy  spirit  fled  ;  why  then  covet  such  an  abode  ? 
It  is  the  mind  that  maketh  its  own  dwelling-place.  From  earliest 
times  the  mind,  reflecting  on  evil  ways,  courts  its  own  misery.  It 
is  thought  that  maketh  its  own  sorrow."  ^ 

Impurity.  —  "  The  messengers  of  Jama  (the  King  of  Death) 
are  close  to  thee  ;  thou  standest  at  the  door  of  thy  departure,  and 
thou  hast  no  provision  for  thy  journey."'  "  When  thy  impurities 
are  blown  away,  and  thou  art  free  from  guilt,  thou  wilt  enter  into 
the  heavenly  world  of  the  elect."  *  "  What  is  the  use  of  plaited 
hair,  O  fool ;  what  the  use  of  raiment  of  goat-skins?  Within  there 
is  ravening,  but  the  outside  thou  makest  clean."  ^  "  He  who  is 
tolerant  with  the  intolerant,  mild  with  the  fault-finding,  free  from 
passion  among  the  passionate,  him  I  call  a  true  Brahman 
[sage]."*' 

The  Filgrimage  of  Beings.  —  "  This  pilgrimage,"  says  Buddha, 
"  O  my  disciples,  hath  its  beginning  in  eternity.  .  .  .  What  think 
ye,  O  disciples,  whether  is  more,  the  water  which  is  in  the  four 
great  oceans,  or  the  tears  which  have  flowed  from  you,  or  have 
been  shed  by  you,  while  ye  strayed  and  wandered  on  this  long 
pilgrimage?  Because  that  was  your  portion  which  ye  abhorred, 
and  that  which  ye  loved  was  not  your  portion.  A  mother's  death, 
a  father's,  a  brother's,  a  sister's,  a  son's,  and  the  loss  of  relatives, 
the  loss  of  property,  —  all  this  have  ye  experienced  through  long 
ages."  ^ 

Spiritual  Worship.  —  "If  a  man  repeat  each  month  a  thousand 
sacrifices,  and  go  on  enduring  his  bodily  sufferings  without  ceasing, 

1  Chinese  Dhammapada,  p.  59.  2  ibid.,  p.  73. 

8  Ibid.,  p.  235.  4  Ibid.,  p.  236. 

5  Ibid.,  p.  394.  «  Ibid.,  p.  406. 
'  Oldenberg,  p.  221. 


262  THE    UNKNOWN  COD. 

this  is  not  equal  to  a  moment's  undivided  attention  to  tlie  Law."  ^ 
"  The  sacrificing  to  spirits  in  order  to  find  peace,  or  expecting  re- 
ward after  this  life,  the  reward  for  this  is  not  one  quarter  that  man's 
who  pays  homage  to  the  good."  ^ 

Destmy.  —  "  Not  in  the  void  of  heaven,  not  in  the  depths  of 
the  sea,  not  by  entering  the  rocky  clefts  of  the  mountains,  —  in 
none  of  these  places  can  a  man  by  any  means  escape  the  conse- 
quences of  his  evil  deed."  ^  "  He  who  inflicteth  pain  on  the 
gentle  and  the  good,  or  falsely  accuseth  the  innocent,  —  this  man 
will  inherit  one  of  these  ten  calamities."  * 

Spirituality.  —  "  Sacrifices  and  such  acts  are  sources  of  misery 
day  and  night,  a  continual  burden.  To  escape  sorrow  a  man 
should  attend  to  the  Law  of  Buddha,  and  arrive  at  deliverance 
from  world-priests."  ^  "  Although  a  man  goeth  naked  with  tan- 
gled hair,  though  he  clothe  himself  with  a  few  leaves,  or  garments 
of  bark,  though  he  covereth  himself  with  dirt  and  sleep  on  the 
stones,  what  use  this,  in  getting  rid  of  impure  thoughts?" 

Earnestness.  —  "  How  can  ye  be  gay,  how  can  ye  indulge  desire  ? 
Evermore  the  flames  burn;  darkness  surroundeth  you,  and  will 
ye  not  seek  the  light?  .  .  .  Man  gathereth  the  flowers,  his  heart 
is  set  on  pleasure,  death  cometh  upon  him  like  the  floods  of  water 
upon  a  village,  and  sweepeth  him  away.  .  .  .  Neither  in  the  region 
of  the  air,  nor  in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  nor  if  thou  piercest  into 
the  clefts  of  the  ^mountain,  wilt  thou  find  a  place  on  this  earth 
where  the  hand  of  death  will  not  reach  thee." 

The  Happiness  of  Believers.  —  "  He  whose  appetites  are  at 
rest,  like  a  steed  thoroughly  broken  in  by  the  trainer,  he  who  hath 
put  away  pride,  who  is  free  from  impurity,  him  thus  perfect  the  gods 
themselves  envy."  ^  "The  believer  who  dwelleth  in  an  empty 
hut,  whose  soul  is  full  of  peace,  enjoyeth  superhuman  happiness. 

1  Dhammapada,  Beal,  p.  87. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  89.  3  Ibid.,  p  93. 
4  Ibid.,  p.  95.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  97. 
^  Oldenberg,  p.  222. 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDHISM.  263 

gazing  solely  on  the  truth.  .  .  .  Esteeming  this  body  like  a  bubble, 
regarding  it  as  a  mirage,  breaking  the  flower-shafts  of  the  tempter, 
press  on  to  the  bourn  where  the  monarch  Death  shall  no  more 
gaze  upon  thee  !  "  ^  "  Having  abandoned  lust,  maUce,  ignorance, 
having  broken  the  bonds  of  transmigration,  entertaining  no  fear 
for  the  loss  of  life,  let  me  walk  alone,  like  a  rhinoceros."  '■^ 

Earnestness.  —  "  Buddha  hearing  some  Brahmans  laughing  after 
listening  to  instruction,  said  :  '  What  room  for  mirth,  what  for  laugh- 
ing, remembering  the  everlasting  fire  ?  Surely  this  dark  and  dreary 
world  is  not  fit  for  one  to  seek  security  and  rest.  Behold  this  body 
in  its  fashions  ;  what  reliance  can  it  afford  as  a  resting-place,  filled 
with  crowded  thoughts,  liable  to  every  disease  ?  Oh,  how  is  it  that 
men  do  not  perceive  its  false  appearances  ?  When  old,  its  beauty 
fades ;  in  sickness,  what  paleness  and  leanness,  the  skin  wrinkled, 
the  flesh  withered,  death  and  life  joined  together ;  and  when  the 
body  dies,  and  the  spirit  flies  away,  as  when  a  king  throws  away  a 
broken  chariot,  so  do  flesh  and  bones  lie  scattered.  What  reliance 
in  the  body?  '  "  ^  "  No  burning  greater  than  lust,  no  poison  worse 
than  hate,  no  misery  greater  than  the  body,  no  joy  like  its 
destruction."  * 

Pleasure.  —  "It  is  related  that  four  monks  were  giving  their 
ideals  of  complete  happiness.  One  found  it  in  the  pleasure  of 
spring  walks,  another  in  the  delight  of  congenial  society,  another 
in  the  comforts  of  wealth,  and  still  another  in  the  joy  of  love  and 
marriage.  Buddha  said  unto  them  :  '  Let  there  be  an  end  to  such 
talk,  for  all  these  things  are  the  source  of  sorrow,  misfortune,  and 
calamity;  this  is  not  the  way  of  eternal  peace.  The  flowers  of 
spring  fade  in  autumn,  friends  shall  be  scattered,  wealth  and  the 
beauty  of  women  are  the  cause  of  every  misfortune  ;  the  highest 
bliss  is  to  leave  the  world,  to  search  after  supreme  wisdom,  to 
desire  nought  for  one's  self,  to  aim  at  Nirvana.'  "^ 

1  Oldenberg,  p.  237. 

^  Sutta  Nipata,  p.  19.     A  very  ancient  sermon. 

*  Dhammapada,  p.  100.  *  Ibid.,  p.  116.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  119. 


264  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

The  Saints.  —  "  \\\\o  is  a  saint  [Bhikshu]  ?  Not  he  who  begs 
regularly  his  food  ...  but  he  who  gives  up  every  cause  of  guilt, 
who  lives  purely,  who  by  wisdom  is  able  to  crush  every  inclination. 
Who  is  the  wise  ?  Not  he  who  is  simply  mute  while  the  busy  work 
of  his  mind  is  impure,  but  he  whose  inward  life  is  pure  and  spir- 
itual. And  who  is  the  enlightened  saint?  Not  he  who  saves  the 
life  of  all  things,  but  he  who  is  filled  with  universal  benevolence, 
who  has  no  malice  in  his  heart ;  and  the  man  who  observeth  the 
law  is  not  he  who  talketh  much,  but  one  who  keepeth  his  body  in 
subjection  to  the  law."  -^ 

Life.  —  "  What  is  life,  but  the  flower  or  fruit  which  falls  when  ripe, 
but  which  ever  fears  the  untimely  frost?  Once  born,  there  is  nought 
but  sorrow ;  for  who  is  there  that  can  escape  death  ?  From  the 
first  moment  in  the  womb  there  is  nought  but  the  bodily  form, 
transitory  as  the  lightning  flash.  .  .  .  The  body  is  but  a  thing 
destined  to  perish ;  there  is  no  certain  form  given  to  the  spirit  con- 
nected with  the  body.  ...  It  is  not  the  matter  of  one  life  or  one 
death,  but  from  the  birth  proceed  all  the  consequences  of  former 
deeds,  resulting  in  joy  or  misery.  The  body  dies,  but  the  spirit  is 
not  entombed."  ^ 

What  is  Good  Fortune  ?  —  Buddha  said,  "  He  who  hath  faith 
and  delighteth  in  the  true  gospel,  this  man  is  fortunate.  A  friend 
of  the  virtuous,  holding  with  the  righteous,  always  making  virtue 
his  first  aim,  keeping  his  body  according  to  laws  of  purity,  he  is 
truly  fortunate."  He  goes  on  to  describe  the  believer  "  as  tem- 
perate, pure,  looking  to  the  Scriptures,  self-restrained,  caring  for 
wife  and  child,  not  giving  way  to  idleness  and  self-honor,  patiently 
continuing  in  the  way  of  duty,  rejoicing  to  see  a  minister  of  the 
faith,  observing  religious  duties,  and  placing  confidence  in  the 
teachers  of  religion.  Such  an  one  desireth  above  all  things  to 
escape  birth.  He  is  devoted  to  charity,  and  to  paying  due  re- 
spect to  Divine  spirits.  He  is  anxious  to  get  rid  of  sensuality  and 
covetousness  and  anger.  He  is  full  of  love  for  all  things  in  the 
1  Dhammapada,  p.  128.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  168. 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDHISM.  265 

world,  practising  virtue  to  benefit  others ;  such  an  one  is  indeed 
fortunate."  ^ 

Faith.  —  "  Faith  can  cross  the  flood  even  as  the  master  of  the  ship 
steers  his  bark  across  the  sea  ;  ever  advancing  on  the  ocean  of  sor- 
row, wisdom  lands  us  on  yonder  shore.  The  wise  man  who  liveth 
by  faith  in  virtue  of  his  holy  life,  enjoyeth  unselfish  bliss,  and  casts 
off  all  shackles.  Faith  lays  hold  of  true  wisdom  ;  religion  leadeth 
to  deliverance  from  death."  - 

Selfish  Good.  — "  Spirits  [Devas]  who  have  been  good  for  the 
sake  of  reward,  after  much  joy  shall  reap  much  sorrow."  ^ 

The  four  truths  most  dwelt  upon  by  the  ancient  Buddh- 
istic writers  are,  first,  the  reality  of  misery,  second,  its 
cause,  third,  the  possibility  of  its  destruction,  fourth,  the 
means  needed  for  this  end.  An  ancient  verse  tells  us  that 
the  doctrine  of  Buddha  was  to  avoid  all  wickedness,  to  do 
all  righteousness,  and  cleanse  the  heart  of  all  desire.^  A 
very  ancient  poem  thus  states  the  doctrine  of  the  faith : 
"  Without  complaint,  without  envy. 

Continue  in  the  practice  of  the  commandments, 

Knowing  the  way  to  moderate  appetite. 

Ever  joyous  without  any  weight  of  care, 

Fixed,  and  ever  advancing  in  virtue,  — 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  Buddha."  ^ 

The  Sutra  of  Forty-two  Sections. 

This  collection  of  ancient  Buddhistic  writings  was  known 

in  India  to  the  Chinese  pilgrims  as  early  as  64  A,  D.,  and 

must  have  existed  there  much  earlier  than  this. 

1  Ibid.,  p.  176.  2  Chinese  Dhammapada,  Beal,  p.  57. 

8  Budd.  Scriptures,  p.  98.        *  Beal's  Catena,  p.  156. 
*  Sik.  Tath.,  Beal,  p.  158. 


266  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Good  for  Evil.  —  "A  man  who  foolishly  does  me  wrong,  I  will 
return  to  him  the  protection  of  my  ungrudging  love  ;  the  more 
evil  cometh  from  him  the  more  good  shall  go  from  .me ;  the  fra- 
grance of  these  good  actions  always  redounding  to  me,  the  harm 
of  the  slanderer's  words  returning  to  him."  ^ 

Charity.  —  "  .\  man  in  the  pracUce  of  religion  who  exercises 
charity  from  a  feeling  of  obligation  or  feeling  of  partiality  does  not 
obtain  much  merit.  And  when  we  see  a  man  giving  in  charity, 
who  rejoices  at  it  that  he  is  thus  advancing  the  cause  of  religion, 
he  also  shall  obtain  religion."  ^ 

"  To  feed  crowds  by  the  hundreds  is  not  to  be  compared 
with  the  act  of  feeding  one  really  good  man ;  "  and  this 
thought  is  wrought  out  through  a  series  of  climaxes  to  the 
end  that  "  feeding  a  thousand  myriad  of  angelic  men  is 
nothing  to  feeding  one  Buddha  and  learning  to  pray  to 
him  from  a  desire  to  save  all  living  creatures."  On  the 
other  hand  it  is  said,  "To  feed  one  good  man  is  infinitely 
greater  in  point  of  merit  than  attending  to  questions  about 
heaven  and  earth,  spirits  and  demons,  such  as  occupy 
ordinary   men."  ^• 

These  are  some  of  the  difficulties  which  meet  the  be- 
liever: "To  be  poor  and  at  the  same  time  charitable,  to 
be  rich  and  religious,  to  repress  lust,  to  bear  insult  with- 
out anger,  to  be  in  the  world  and  not  set  heart  on  it,  to 
extirpate  self-esteem,  to  be  at  once  good  and  learned,  to 
attain  one's  end  without   exultation."  * 

1  Budd.  Scriptures,  Beal's  Catena,  p.  193. 

2  Dhammapada,  p.  194.  s  Ibid.,  p.  195. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  195. 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDHISM.  267 

A  Charitable  King.  —  The  ancient  Buddhistic  records 
tell  of  a  king  who  distributed  in  one  day  the  accumulated 
treasures  of  five  years.  Having  collected  in  a  space  called 
the  "  charity  enclosure "  immense  piles  of  wealth  and 
jewels,  he  first  adorned  the  statue  of  Buddha,  then  he  dis- 
tributed to  resident  priests,  then  to  priests  from  a  distance, 
then  he  divided  large  sums  among  numbers  of  disciples, 
next  among  heretics  following  the  ways  of  the  world,  and 
lastly  he  gave  to  widows  and  orphans,  the  poor  and  the 
desolate.  After  having  thus  disbursed  his  wealth,  he  gave 
away  finally  his  diadem  and  jewelled  necklace,  saying 
with  joy,  "  Well  done  !  Now  all  that  I  possess  hath  entered 
into  incorruptible  and  imperishable  treasuries."  ^ 

Goodness.  —  Buddha  said,  "Who  is  the  good  man?  The  re- 
ligious man  only  is  good.  And  what  is  goodness  ?  First  and  fore- 
most it  is  the  agreement  of  the  will  with  the  conscience.  Who  is 
the  great  man?  He  who  is  strongest  in  patience,  he  who  patiently 
endureth  injury  and  maintaineth  a  blameless  life,  he  is  a  man 
indeed." 

Spiritual  Power.  —  "But  once  get  rid  of  the  pollution  of  the 
wicked  heart,  then  we  perceive  the  spiritual  portion  of  ourselves 
which  we  knew  to  be  from  the  first,  although  involved  in  the  rut 
of  life  and  death." 

Buddhistic  Golden  Rules. 

"  For  never  in  this  world  does  hatred  cease  by  hatred.  Hatred 
ceases  by  love  ;  this  is  always  its  nature."  ^  "  Earnest  among  the 
heedless,  awake  among  the  sleepers,  the  wise  make  progress,  leaving 

1  Buddhistic  Records  of  Western  World,  p.  233. 

2  Dhammapada,  p.  29. 


268  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

those  behind ;  even  as  the  swift  steed  leaveth  the  horse  with  no 
strength."  ^  "  As  tlie  bee,  injuring  not  the  flower,  its  coloring  or 
scent,  flieth  away  taking  its  nectar,  so  let  the  good  man  dwell  upon 
the  earth.  He  who  formerly  was  heedless,  and  afterwards  be- 
cometh  earnest,  lighteth  up  this  world  like  the  moon  escaped  from 
clouds."  2  "  Let  us  live  happily,  then,  free  from  ailments  among 
the  aihng ;  let  us  dwell  free  from  affliction  among  men  who  are 
sick  at  heart."  ^  "  Let  us  live  happily,  not  hating  those  who  hate 
us.  Let  us  live  free  from  hatred  among  men  who  hate  us."  ^ 
"Anger,  drunkenness,  obstinacy,  bigotry,  deception,  envy,  self- 
praise,  disparagement  of  others,  high-mindedness,  evil  communica- 
tions, —  these  make  uncleanness,  not  the  eating  of  flesh."  ^ 

Self-Cofiquest. — "One  self-conquered  is  better  than  the  con- 
quest of  all  other  people.  Not  even  a  god,  not  Mara  (Satan)  with 
Brahma,  can  change  into  defeat  the  victory  of  a  man  over 
himself."  ^ 

The  World.  —  "  He  whose  evil  deeds  are  covered  by  good 
deeds  brightens  up  this  world  like  the  moon  when  freed  from 
clouds.  .  .  .  This  world  is  dark,  only  few  can  see  here ;  a  few  only 
go  to  heaven,  like  birds  escaped  from  the  net."'' 

A  Parable. 

"  The  Lord  Buddha  was  passing  over  a  ploughed  field,  when  he 
met  a  husbandman  toiling  at  his  work.  The  husbandman  said 
unto  him  bitterly,  '  O  priest,  I  both  plough  and  sow,  and  having 
ploughed  and  sown,  I  eat ;  thou  also,  O  priest,  shouldst  plough 
and  sow,  and  then  only  eat.'  The  Blessed  One  said  unto  him, 
'  I,  too,  O  husbandman,  plough  and  sow,  and  then  I  eat.'  '  But,' 
said  the  husbandman,  '  we  see  neither  yoke  nor  plough  nor  plough- 

1  Dhammapada,  19.  ^  ibid.,  p.  172.  ^  jbid.,  p.  197. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  223.  Similar  beautiful  ideas  are  found  in  the  Indian 
poem  Maha-bharata. 

5  Amagandha  Sutta,  7,  11.  ®  Dhammapada,  pp.  104,  105. 

■?  Ibid.  pp.  173,  174- 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDHISM.  269 

share,  nor  goad  nor  oxen.'  The  Blessed  One  answered  unto  him, 
'  Faith  is  my  seed,  penance  the  rain,  wisdom  the  yoke  and  plough, 
modesty  the  shaft,  mind  the  striug,  and  presence  of  mind  my 
ploughshare  and  goad ;  exertion  is  my  beast  who  carrieth  me  to 
Nirvana.'  "  ^ 

Apothegms. 
"The  uncharitable  do  not  go  to  the  world  of  the  gods."''^  "Better 
than  ruling  over  the  earth,  better  than  going  to  heaven,  better  than 
lordship  over  all  worlds,  is  the  reward  of  the  first  step  in  holiness."  ^ 
"  Not  to  commit  any  sin,  to  do  good,  and  to  purify  one's  mind,  that 
is  the  teaching  of  the  Law  of  Buddha."  *  "  Let  us  live  happily, 
then,  not  hating  those  who  hate  us ;  let  us  dwell  free  from  hatred 
among  those  who  hate."®  "  Let  us  live  happily,  we  who  call  noth- 
ing our  own.  We  shall  be  like  the  bright  gods  feeding  on  happi- 
ness." ®  "  Kinsfolk,  friends,  and  lovers  salute  a  man  who  hath 
been  long  away  and  returns  safe  from  a  far  country.  In  like 
manner  his  good  deeds  receive  him  who  hath  done  good,  and  hath 
gone  from  this  world  to  another."''  "  He  who  holdeth  back  rising 
anger  like  a  rolling  chariot,  him  I  call  a  true  driver ;  other  people 
are  but  holding  the  reins."  ^ 

Beatitudes. 

II, 

Not  to  serve  the  foolish. 

But  to  serve  the  spiritual. 

To  honor  those  worthy  of  honor,  — 

Blessed  be  this. 


To  bestow  alms  and  hve  righteously, 
To  give  help  to  kindred, 

1  Sutta  Nipata,  p.  20.  2  Dhammapada,  p.  177. 

«  Ibid.,  p.  178.  <  Ibid.,  p.  183.  ^  n^jfi,^  p   ^^^ 

^  Ibid.,  p.  200.  '  Ibid.,  pp.  219,  220.      «  Jbid.^  p,  222. 


2/0  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Deeds  which  cannot  be  blamed ; 
To  abhor  and  cease  from  sin, 
Abstinence  from  strong  drink, 
Not  to  be  weary  in  well  doing,  — 
Blessed  be  these. 

VIII. 

Reverence  and  lowliness, 
Contentment  and  gratitude, 
The  hearing  of  the  law  at  due  seasons, 
Blessed  be  this. 


Self-restraint  and  purity. 

The  knowledge  of  the  noble  truths,  — 

Most  blessed  be  this.^ 

Riches.  —  One  of  the  old  Suttas  says :  "  How  hardly 
shall  the  rich  man  instruct  himself  in  the  Way!  Who 
shall  have  riches  and  power  and  not  become  their  slave?  " 

The  True  Treasures. 

The  true  treasure  is  that  laid  up  by  man  or  woman 
Through  chanty  and  piety  and  temperance  and  self-control. 

In  the  individual  man,  in  the  stranger  and  sojourner, 
In  his  father  and  mother  and  elder  brother. 
The  treasure  thus  hid  passeth  not  away, 
Though  he  leave  the  fleeting  riches  of  this  world. 
This  a  man  taketh  not  with  him,  — 

A  treasure  that  no  wrong  of  others  and  no  thief  can  steal  away. 
Let  the  wise  man  do  good  deeds,  —  the  treasure  that  follows  of 
itself.2 

1  Lillie,  p.  154.  2  Nid_  Sutta,  Davids. 


SACRED    WRITINGS   OF  BUDDHISM.  2/1 

"  I  long  not  for  death,  I  long  not  for  life ;  I  wait  till  the  hour 
Cometh,  like  a  hireling  who  waiteth  for  his  wage  ;  I  wait  with  assured 
and  wakeful  mind."  ^ 

"  Hunger  is  a  most  grievous  pain ;  the  illusions  of  life  are  the 
most  grievous  sorrow ;  recognizing  this  as  a  truth,  man  attaineth 
Nirvana,  supreme  happiness.  .  .  .  The  wise  who  cause  no  suffering 
to  any  being,  who  keep  their  body  in  check,  they  walk  to  the  ever- 
lasting state.  He  who  hath  reached  that,  knoweth  no  sorrow. 
He  who  is  permeated  by  goodness,  the  believer  who  sticketh  to 
Buddha's  teaching,  passeth  from  here  to  the  land  of  peace,  where 
transientness  finds  an  end,  where  is  happiness."  "^ 

NIRVANA. 

Nirvana  is  often  spoken  of  as  the  "  going  out "  of  the 
fires  of  lust  and  pleasure  and  hatred  and  delusion.^  In 
the  Buddhistic  scriptures  of  the  Chinese  it  is  said,  "  In  sor- 
row is  no  Nirvana,  and  in  Nirvana  is  no  sorrow."  Again, 
"I,  Gotama  Buddha,  devote  myself  to  righteousness,  so 
that  I  may  arrive  at  the  highest  Nirvana."^ 

Again,  says  an  ancient  verse :  — 

"  The  heart  carefully  avoiding  all  idle  pleasure, 
Diligently  applying  itself  to  the  holy  law  of  Buddha, 
Letting  go  all  lust  and  consequent  disappointment, 
Fixed  and  unchangeable,  enters  upon  Nirvana."  ^ 

"  These  wise  people,  meditative,  steady,  always  possessed  of  strong 
powers,  attained  to  Nirvana,  the  highest  happiness."  ®     "A  saint 

»  Oldenberg  :  Melindapanka,  p.  271.    Later  than  the  Dhammapada. 

2  Oldenberg:  Dhammapada,  p.  385. 

8  Davids,  p.  100. 

4  Catena  of  Buddhistic  Scriptures,  Beal,  p.  174. 

6  Ibid.,  p.  159.  ®  Dhammapada,  p.  23. 


2/2  THE    UNKNOWN  COD. 

who  delights  in  reflection,  who  looks  with  fear  on  thoughtlessness, 
will  not  go  to  destruction ;  he  is  near  to  Nirvana."  ^  "  If  like  a 
trumpet  trampled  under  feet  thou  utterest  not,  then  thou  hast 
reached  Nirvana.  Anger  is  not  known  to  thee."-  "  In  long-suf- 
fering is  called  the  highest  Nirvana;  no  happiness  hke  rest  or 
quietness,  and  the  highest  happiness  is  Nirvana.  The  way  to 
peace  leadeth  also  to  Nirvana."  ^  "  When  thou  hast  cut  off 
passion  and  hatred,  thou  wilt  go  to  Nirvana."*  "The  sages 
who  always  control  their  body,  they  will  go  to  the  unchange- 
able place  where  they  will  suffer  no  more.  .  .  .  Some  people  are 
born  again  on  earth;  evil-doers  go  to  hell;  righteous  people  go 
to  the  heavens  ;  those  who  are  free  from  all  worldly  desires  en- 
ter Nirvana.  One  is  the  road  leading  to  wealth  ;  another  that 
leading  to  Nirvana.  If  the  saint,  the  disciple  of  Buddha,  has 
learned  this,  he  will  not  yearn  for  honor ;  he  will  strive  after  sepa- 
ration from  the  world."  ^  "  The  believer  who  delighteth  in  dili- 
gence and  looketh  with  terror  on  sloth,  cannot  fall  away ;  he  is  in 
the  very  presence  of  Nirvana."  ^  The  Buddhas  declare  the  best 
self-mortification  to  be  patience,  long-suffering,  but  the  best  of  all 
to  be  Nirvana."  ''  "Those  who  are  ever  on  the  watch,  who  study 
day  and  night,  whose  heart  is  set  on  it,  their  sinfulness  dies  away."  ^ 
"  Cut  down  lust,  not  a  tree.  From  lust  springeth  fear  ;  having  cut 
down,  with  all  its  undergrowth,  the  forest  of  lust,  become  M'r- 
vdna'dy  ^  "  Cut  off  self-love,  as  an  autumn  lotus,  with  your  hand  ; 
devote  yourself  to  the  path  of  peace  alone,  for  by  the  blessed  one 
hath  Nirvana  been  revealed."  ^^  "  The  wise  man  who  is  trained 
according  to  the  commandments,  seeing  the  force  of  this  truth, 
should  at  once  clear  the  path  leading  to  Nirvana."  "  "  Bail  out 
this  boat ;  when  bailed  it  will  go  quickly ;  when  thou  hast  got  rid 
of  lust  and  hatred,  thou  shalt  go  to  Nirvana."  ^'^ 

1  Dhammapada,  p.  32.  "  ibid.,  p.  134.  s  ibid.,  p.  285. 

«  Ibid.,  p.  369.  5  Ibid.,  p.  75-  *  Ibid.,  p.  32. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  184.  8  Ibid.,  p.  226.  '  Ibid.,  p.  283. 

19  Ibid.,  p.  285.  "  Ibid.,  p.  289.  "  Ibid.,  p.  369. 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDHISM.  273 

*'  Temperance  and  chastity,  to  discern  the  noble  truths,  to  expe- 
rience Nirvana,  that  is  the  greatest  blessing."  ^  "  Beautiful  as 
groves  and  thickets  covered  with  bloom  in  the  first  hot  months 
of  summer,  the  Buddha  preached  for  the  good  of  all  his  glorious 
law  which  leadeth  to  Nirvana."  '"^  "  All  earthly  glory  and  heavenly 
joy  and  the  gain  of  Nirvana  can  be  procured  by  these ;  namely, 
charity,  piety,  and  self-control."  '  "  As  where  heat  is,  there  is  also 
cold,  so  where  the  threefold  fires  of  lust,  hatred,  and  ignorance  are, 
there  must  Nirvana  be  sought." 

"  Having  conceived  bliss  to  consist  in  peace,  let  him  not  be 
indolent  in  Gotama's  commandments."  ^  "  For  he  a  conqueror 
unconquered  saw  the  doctrine  invisibly  without  any  traditional 
instruction."  ^  "  Such  a  disciple,  who  has  turned  away  from 
desire  and  attachment,  and  is  possessed  of  understanding,  has 
already  gone  to  immortal  peace,  the  unchangeable  state  of  Nir- 
vana." ^  "And  seeing  misery  .  .  .  searching  for  truth  I  saw  in- 
ward peace."  "^ 

The  true  disciple  is  spoken  of  as  the  Confessor  of 
Peace.^  In  this  world  much  has  been  seen,  heard, 
thought.  The  destruction  of  passion  and  of  the  dear 
objects  that  have  been  perceived  is  the  imperceptible 
state  of  Nirvana.^  Nirvana  is  called  the  destruction  and 
decay  of  death. ^"^  By  the  leaving  of  desire  Nirvana  is 
said  to  be.^^ 

"  So  the  mendicant  Suddhabra  was  received  after  baptism  into  the 
higher  grade  of  the  Sacred  Order  under  the  Blessed  One,  and  from 

1  Mang.  Sutta,  vii. ;  Davids:   Buddhism,  p.  loi. 

2  Ratuna  Sutta,  v.  12.  »  Nidhi  Kam.  Sutta,  v.  113. 

*  Sutta  Nipata,  933.  6  ji^jd^  f^^^  6  n^jf)^  203. 

^  Ibid.,  837.  8  Ibid.,  84.  ^  Ibid.,  1085. 

"  Ibid.,  1093.  "  Ibid.,  U08. 

iS 


274  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

immediately  after  his  ordination  the  venerable  disciple  remained 
alone  and  separate,  earnest,  zealous,  and  resolved.  And  ere  long 
he  attained  to  that  supreme  goal  of  the  higher  life  [Nirvana]  for 
the  sake  of  which  men  go  out  from  all  and  every  comfort  to  be- 
come houseless  wanderers ;  yea,  that  supreme  goal  did  he  by  him- 
self, and  while  yet  in  this  visible  world,  bring  himself  to  the  knowledge 
of,  and  continue  to  realize  and  to  see  face  to  face  ;  and  he  became 
conscious  that  birth  was  at  an  end  and  that  the  higher  life  had 
been  fulfilled,  that  all  that  should  be  done  had  been  accomplished, 
and  that  after  this  present  life  there  would  be  no  beyond  [of  birth- 
and-death,  or  transmigration]."^ 

The  Sutta  Nipata  closes  thus :  — 

"  To  the  insuperable,  the  unchangeable,  whose  littleness  is  no- 
where, I  shall  certainly  go  ;  in  this  [Nirvana]  ^  there  will  be  no 
doubt  for  me ;  so  know  me  of  an  untroubled  mind."  ^ 

Buddha.  —  Buddha  is  entitled  "  the  Elevated,  the  Joy- 
bringer,  the  Joy-spender,  whose  senses  are  still,  whose 
soul  is  in  peace,  the  highest,  Self-Conqueror,  the  hero 
who  hath  overcome  himself,  and  watcheth  over  himself, 
and  holdeth  his  senses  in  check.  He  appeareth  in  the 
world  for  salvation  to  many  peoples,  for  joy  to  many  na- 
tions, from  compassion  to  the  world  for  blessing,  salva- 
tion, and  joy  to  gods  and  men."  ^ 

^  This  passage  is  taken  from  a  very  ancient  Buddhist  writing,  pos- 
sibly dating  to  the  first  century  after  Buddha,  —  The  Book  of  the  Great 
Decease,  Davids,  v.  68. 

2  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  translations  of  the  term  "  Nirvana  "  in  the 
Thibetan  always  give  the  meaning  of  emancipation  or  state  of  deliv- 
erance from  pain,  or  emancipation  from  pain  and  death  (Burnouf, 
p.  17,  Introd.). 

3  Sutta  Nipata,  1148.  <  Oldenberg,  p.  336. 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDHISM.  275 

His  Mission.  — \1  is  related  that  an  old  monk  lay  sick  of 
a  loathsome  disease,  and  no  one  would  approach  him  or 
help  him.  The  Lord  Buddha  entered  his  dwelling  and 
washed  and  tended  him  till  he  was  restored  to  health, 
saying,  "The  purpose  of  the  Holy  One  in  comuig  to 
the  world  is  to  befriend  the  poor,  the  helpless,  the  un- 
protected, to  nourish  those  in  bodily  affliction,  to  help 
the  orphan  and  the  aged."  ^ 

Death  flfa  Buddhist.  — ''ThQ  famous  Chinese  traveller,  Hiouen 
Thsang,  who  went  as  a  pilgrim  from  China  to  India  to  investigate 
Buddhism  in  the  seventh  century,  had  just  finislied  his  translation 
of  the  holy  books  into  Chinese,  when  he  felt  his  death  approaching, 
and  thus  addressed  his  disciples  :  '  After  my  death,  when  ye  take 
me  to  my  last  home,  let  it  be  in  a  simple  and  modest  way.  Wrap 
my  body  in  a  mat  and  place  it  in  some  quiet,  secluded  valley ;  let 
it  not  be  laid  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  royal  palace  or  a  convent ; 
for  a  body  as  impure  as  mine  should  not  lie  in  such  a  place.'  His 
disciples  wept  bittedy  ;  but  at  length,  his  end  approaching,  he  gave 
alms  to  the  poor,  and  called  the  brethren  of  the  convent  to  his 
bedside,  to  bid  adieu  to  his  impure  and  despised  body.  '  I  de- 
sire to  see  the  merit  of  my  good  deeds  bear  fruit  with  all  mankind  ; 
I  desire  to  be  born  in  the  heaven  called  Joyous,  to  be  admitted 
among  the  disciples  of  the  Loving  One,  and  there  to  serve  him  as 
my  tender  and  affectionate  Lord.  I  desire  to  be  born  in  future 
births,  here  on  earth,  that  I  may  accomplish  with  unceasing  zeal 
my  duties  to  the  Lord  Buddha,  and  at  length  arrive  at  the  condi- 
tion of  perfect  wisdom.  Nirvana.'  After  uttering  his  adieus,  he  lay 
long  in  serious  thought ;  then,  as  he  sank,  regretting  that  he  had 
made  so  little  progress  towards  the  fulness  of  holiness,  he  said  : 
'Adoration  to  the  Loving  One,  gifted  with  sublime  intelligence,  I 

^  Dhammapada,  p.  94. 


276  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

pray  to  be  allowed  with  all  men  to  behold  thy  face.  Adoration  to 
the  Loving  One  !  I  pray  to  be  admitted  after  death  to  thy  presence 
and  the  multitude  that  dwelleth  around  thee.'  In  the  middle  of 
the  night  his  disciples  asked  him,  '  Hast  thou  yet  obtained  a  new 
birth  in  heaven  ? '  '  Yes/  he  gently  whispered,  and  breathed  his 
last."  ^ 

Buddha  and  Confucius.  —  It  is  related  by  Edkins  in  his 
"  Notes  on  Buddhism  in  China  "  that  a  follower  of  Buddha 
assailed  the  doctrine  of  Confucius  as  relating  only  to  this 
present  life,  urging  that  it  does  not  reach  to  the  future  state 
with  its  interminable  results;  that  its  motives  to  virtue  are 
derived  from  the  happiness  to  posterity ;  that  the  only  con- 
sequence of  vice  is  present  suffering,  and  that  the  rewards 
of  the  good  are  merely  worldly  honors.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Buddhist  claimed  that  the  aims  of  Buddha  are  illimi- 
table;  that  his  one  sentiment  is  "  mercy  seeking  to  save;  " 
that  he  speaks  of  hell  to  deter  from  sin,  and  points  to 
heaven  that  men  may  desire  its  happiness ;  he  exhibits 
Nirvana  as  the  spirit's  final  refuge,  and  tells  us  of  a  body 
to  be  possessed  under  other  conditions,  long  after  our  pres- 
ent body  has  passed  away.  The  disciple  of  Confucius 
answered  that  we  ought  to  do  right  for  its  own  sake, 
and  without  reference  to  reward  ;  that  to  praise  Nirvana 
is  to  promote  a  lazy  inactivity ;  and  that  to  dwell  on 
the  form  of  the  body  which  we  may  attain  to  in  a  fu- 
ture life  is  calculated  only  to  develop  the  love  of  the 
marvellous. 

1  Beal:  Buddhism  in  China,  pp.  113,  114. 


SACRED    WRITINGS   OF  BUDDHISM.  277 

In  "  Chinese  Buddhism  "  Buddha's  body  is  described  as 
"  co-extensive  with  the  universe,"  dwclHng  in  all  time,  with 
excellences  innumerable  as  the  dust-grains,  beyond  all 
human  character,  transcending  all  human  language.^ 

Buddha's  BeatificatioJi.  —  "  On  that  night  when  the  Lord  at- 
tained the  state  of  Nirvana,  angels  [Devas]  sang  together  in  tlie 
midst  of  space  a  joyous  song,  and  there  rained  upon  earth  every 
kind  of  sweet  flower.  ...  All  fell  at  the  feet  of-  Buddha ;  there 
was  no  ill-feeling  or  hatred  in  the  hearts  of  men,  but  whatever 
want  there  was,  whether  of  food  or  drink  or  raiment,  was  at  once 
supplied  ;  the  blind  received  their  sight,  the  dumb  spake,  the  deaf 
heard,  those  bound  in  hell  were  released,  and  every  kind  of  being, 
beasts,  demons,  and  all  created  things,  found  peace  and  rest."  ^ 

The  Outcast  Women. — Buddha  is  often  spoken  of  in 
these  narratives  as  conversing  with  well-known  courtesans, 
seeking  to  lead  them  to  a  higher  life.  In  one  case  he  is 
said  to  have  preferred  the  society  of  one  of  these  women 
to  that  of  nobles  and  princes,  and  she  subsequently  became 
his  pure  and  devout  disciple.  In  another  case  his  disciple 
Ananda  is  said  to  have  come  to  a  well  and  to  have  asked 
for  water  of  a  chandala  woman  drawing  water  from  the 
fountain ;  and  she  said  unto  him,  "  How  canst  thou,  being 
a  follower  of  the  Blessed  One,  ask  water  of  me,  a  chan- 
dala? "  And  he  said,  "I  did  not  ask  after  thy  caste  or 
family,  but  I  asked  thee  for  water;  "  and  she  gave  unto 
himi,  and  became  thereafter  a  disciple. 

1  Beal  :   Buddliism  in  China,  p.  102. 

2  Beal :   History  of  Buddha,  p.  225. 


278  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

The  First  Sermon  of  Buddha.  —  This  discourse,  which 
has  come  down  through  the  centuries,  is  said  to  have  been 
on  the  "  Foundation  of  the  Kingdom  of  Righteousness." 
The  poetic  Oriental  tradition  relates  that  on  that  day  the 
angels  thronged  to  hear  the  discourse  until  the  heavens 
were  emptied,  and  the  sound  of  their  approach  was  like 
the  rain  of  a  storm.  All  the  w^orlds  in  which  were  sentient 
beings  were  made  void  of  light,  so  that  the  congregation 
assembled  was  in  number  infinite.  But  at  the  sound  of  the 
trump  of  the  King  of  Angels  they  became  still  as  a  wave- 
less  sea.  And  then  each  of  the  countless  listeners  thought 
that  the  sage  was  looking  towards  himself  alone,  and  was 
speaking  to  him  in  his  own  tongue.^ 

In  this  discourse  are  brought  forth  "  eight  divisions  of 
the  noble  path,"  which,  though  sounding  commonplace  to 
us,  have  been  the  inspiration  and  the  assistance  of  so  many 
million  Buddhists.  They  are :  i.  Right  views.  2.  Right 
aims.  3.  Right  speech.  4.  Right  conduct.  5.  Right 
livelihood.  6.  Right  effort.  7.  Right-mindfulness.  8. 
Right  contemplation.  In  these  ancient  sermons  the  ap- 
peal is  often  put  to  the  Master,  "  Show  us  the  way  to  a 
state  of  union  with  Brahma;"  and  in  one  instance  he 
thus  replies :  "  Know  that  from  time  to  time  a  Perfect  One 
[Tathagata]  is  born  unto  the  world,  a  fully  Enlightened 
One,  Blessed  and  Worthy,  happy  with  knowledge  of  the 
world,  unsurpassed  as  a  guide  to  erring  mortals,  a  teacher 
1  Davids:  Buddhistic  Suttas,  vi.  42. 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDHISM.  279 

of  gods  and  men,  a  Blessed  One.  He  by  himself  thor- 
oughly understandeth  and  seeth  as  it  were  face  to  face 
this  universe, —the  world  below  with  all  its  spirits,  and 
the  worlds  above  of  Mara  and  Brahma,  and  all  creatures 
and  gods  and  men,  —  and  he  then  maketh  his  knowledge 
known  to  others.  The  truth  doth  he  proclaim  both  in  its 
letter  and  its  spirit,  —  lovely  in  its  origin,  lovely  in  its  pro- 
gress, lovely  in  its  consummation.  The  higher  life  doth 
he  make  known  in  all  its  purity,  in  all  its  perfectness."  ^ 

The  Pharisees.  —  In  one  of  these  sermons  he  proves  to 
the  Pharisees  of  those  days,  the  Tevigga,  those  who  boasted 
of  an  extraordinary  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  and  the 
Law  (the  Vedas)  in  a  highly  Socratic  manner,  that  these 
Brahmans  were  not  in  likeness  to  Brahma,  and'  therefore 
could  not  be  united  to  him  hereafter;  that,  though  versed 
in  the  knowledge  of  the  Vedas,  they  bore  anger  and  malice 
in  their  hearts,  were  sinful  and  uncontrolled,  and  how 
would  it  be  possible  that  after  death,  when  their  body  was 
dissolved,  they  could  become  united  to  Brahma,  who  is 
free  from  anger  and  malice,  is  sinless,  and  has  absolute  self- 
control.  "  These  Brahmans,  while  they  sit  down  in  confi- 
dence, are  really  sinking  down  in  the  mire,  and  so  sinking, 
they  arrive  only  at  despair,  thinking  they  are  crossing  over 
to  some  happier  land ;  therefore  their  threefold  wisdom  is 
called  a  waterless  desert."  ^     But  to  the  beloved  disciples, 

1  Davids:  Buddhistic  Siittas,  p.  186. 

2  Tevigga  Sutta,  or  Knowledge  of  tlie  Vedas,  p.  185. 


2 So  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

who  are  seeking  simply  and  truly  this  union  with  Brahma, 
he  explains  in  what  manner  they  must  seek  to  cultivate 
universal  love.  "  Thus  the  whole  wide  world,  above,  below, 
around,  and  everywhere,  does  the  disciple  continue  to  per- 
vade with  the  heart  of  love,  far-reaching,  grown  great,  and 
beyond  measure.  .  .  .  Even  so  of  all  things  that  have  shape 
or  life  there  is  not  one  that  he  passeth  by  or  leaveth  aside, 
but  regardeth  them  all  with  mind  set  free,  and  deep-felt 
love.  Only  this  is  the  way  to  a  state  of  union  with 
Brahma."  ^  The  Socratic  method  with  the  disciple  is  pur- 
sued somewhat  thus :  "  '  Will  the  disciple  who  liveth  thus 
be  in  possession  of  women,  wealth,  and  the  luxuries  of 
life?  ' — '  He  will  not,  Gotama.' — '  Will  he  be  full  of  anger?' 
—  •  He  will  be  free  of  anger,  Gotama.'  "  ^  And  so  the 
questions  proceed  in  regard  to  malice,  impurity,  want  of 
self-control,  and  yielding  to  the  world.  All  these  things 
the  true  disciple  is  shown  to  be  free  from.  "  '  Is  there, 
then,  agreement  and  likeness  between  the  disciple  and 
Brahma?'  —  'There  is,  O  master.'  —  'Very  good,  Vasettha. 
Then  it  must  be  that  the  disciple,  free  from  all  these 
things,—  anger,  malice,  impurity,  being  pure  in  mind,  and 
master  of  himself, —  will  after  death,  when  the  body  is 
dissolved,  become  united  with  Brahma.'"^  The  disciples 
acknowledge  themselves  convinced,  and  betake  themselves 
to  the  Perfect    One   as    a  refuge,   to  the  Truth   and    the 

1  Davids  :  Buddhistic  Suttas,  p.  201. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  202.  8  ibid.^  p.  203. 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDHISM.  28 1 

Brotherhood.  "  May  the  Blessed  One  accept  us  as  dis- 
ciples and  true  behevers  from  this  day  forth  as  long  as 
life  cndurcth."  ^ 

In   these    ancient    sermons    are    found   these   beautiful 
words,   no  doubt  real  thoughts    of  Buddha,  which   have 


"  The  true  believer  must  be  kind  to  all  creatures  that  have  life ; 
he  passeth  his  life  in  honesty  and  purity  of  heart ;  he  liveth  a  life 
of  chastity  and  purity ;  he  speaketh  truth  ;  frohi  the  truth  he  never 
swerveth  ;  he  liveth  as  a  binder  together  of  those  who  are  divided, 
an  encourager  of  those  who  are  friends,  a  peace- maker,  a  lover  of 
peace,  impassioned  for  peace ;  a  speaker  of  words  that  make  for 
peace,  etc.  .  .  .  Whatever  word  is  humane,  pleasant  to  the  ear, 
lovely,  reaching  to  the  heart,  urbane,  pleasing  to  the  people,  such 
are  the  words  he  speaketh."  ^ 

The  Death  of  Buddha.  —  "  The  great  Buddha,  Lord  of  the  world, 
having  finished  his  work  of  converting  the  world,  entered  on  the  joy 
of  the  Nirvana.  .  .  .  With  his  head  to  the  north  he  lay,  and  thus 
spoke  to  his  disciples  :  '  Who  shall  now  make  unto  us  a  boat  to  cross 
over  the  great  sea  of  birth-and-death ;  who  shall  light  a  lamp  to 
light  us  through  the  long  night  of  ignorance  ? '  .  .  .  When  the  Holy 
One  was  about  to  die,  a  brilliant  light  shone  round  about ;  men  and 
angels  were  cast  down,  and  together  showed  their  sorrow  as  they 
spake  thus  one  to  another :  '  Now  the  great  Buddha,  the  world's 
Lord,  is  about  to  die.  The  happiness  of  men  is  gone,  the  world 
hath  lost  its  support.'  Then  said  Buddha,  '  Say  not  the  Holy 
One  hath  gone  forever,  because  he  dieth  ;  the  body  of  the  gospel 
endureth  forever,  unchangeable.  Put  away  all  sloth,  and  without 
delay  seek  for  the  emancipation  of  the  world.'  .  .  . 

^  Davids  :  Buddhistic  Suttas,  p.  203. 
2  Buddhistic  Suttas,  Kula  Silam,  p.  190. 


282  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

"Then  the  heavenly  host,  bearing  exquisite  divine  flowers, 
sang  through  space  the  praises  of  his  sacred  nature,  each  in  full 
sincerity  of  heart  offering  his  full  sacrifice  of  worship.  .  .  .  His 
mother,  the  queen  Maya,  fainted,  till  once  again  she  said  in  loud 
accents,  '  The  happiness  of  men  and  gods  is  departed,  the  world's 
eyes  are  put  out,  all  things  are  desert,  without  a  guide.'  Then  by 
the  holy  power  of  the  Perfect  One  the  golden  coffin  of  itself  opened, 
spreading  abroad  a  glorious  light,  and  he  with  hands  crossed  and 
sitting  upright  saluted  thus  his  loving  mother :  '  Thou  hast  come 
down  from  afar ;  thou  who  livest  so  holy  needest  not  be  sad.' 
Whereupon  his  beloved  disciple,  Ananda,  suppressing  his  grief, 
said  unto  him,  '  What  shall  I  say  hereafter,  when  they  question 
me  ?  '  The  Lord  answered,  '  Say,  when  Buddha  died,  his  loving 
mother,  Maya,  from  the  heavenly  courts  descending,  came  to  the 
grave,  and  Buddha  preached  the  Law  for  her  sake.'  Strange  marks 
appeared  on  his  feet ;  Ananda  said,  '  What  be  these  ?  '  And  they 
answered  unto  him,  '  When  first  he  died,  the  tears  of  men  and 
gods,  falling  on  his  feet,  left  these  marks.'  "  ^ 

The  Death  of  Buddha  {another  account).  —  "At  last  Buddha 
arrived  at  Kusinara.  *  Go,  Ananda,'  saith  Buddha,  '  and  prepare  a 
bed  for  me  between  two  saka  trees,^  with  my  head  to  the  north. 
I  am  tired,  Ananda ;  I  shall  lie  down.'  .  .  .  Heavenly  melodies," 
says  the  legend,  "  were  sounding  in  the  air  in  honor  of  the  Holy 
One  ;  but  to  the  Holy  One  belonged  another  honor,  another  glory. 
.  .  .  '  Whosoever,  Ananda,  male  or  female  follower,  liveth  in  the 
truth  and  walketh  according  to  the  commandments,  these  bring  to 
the  Holy  One  highest  honor  and  praise.'  .  .  .  But  Ananda  went 
into  the  house,  and  weeping  said,  '  I  am  not  yet  free  from  impuri- 
ties ;  I  have  not  yet  reached  the  goal ;  and  my  master,  who  taketh 
pity  on  me,  hath  not  yet  entered  into  Nirvana.'  ^  .  .  .  But  Buddha 
said  unto  him,  '  Not  so,  Ananda ;  weep  not,  sorrow  not  !  Have  I 
not  ere  this  said  to  thee,  Ananda,  that  from  all  that  man  loveth 

1  Buddhistic  Records  of  Western  World,  Beal.  ii.  39,  40. 

2  Shorea  robusta.  ^  Oldenberg,  p.  201. 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDHISM.  283 

and  from  all  that  he  enjoyeth,  from  that  he  must  part?  .  .  .  How 
can  it  be,  Ananda,  that  that  which  is  born,  groweth,  and  is  sub- 
ject to  decay,  should  not  pass  away?  That  must  be.  .  .  .  Thou 
hast  done  well,  Ananda  ;  only  strive  on  ;  soon  wilt  thou  be  free  from 
impurities ! ' 

"  Shortly  before  his  departure  Buddha  said  :  '  It  may  be,  Ananda, 
that  ye  shall  say  the  world  hath  lost  its  master ;  we  have  no  master 
more.  Ye  must  not  think  this.  The  Law  and  the  Truth  which  I 
have  taught  and  preached  unto  you,  these  are  your  master  when 
I  am  gone  hence  ! '  And  unto  his  disciples  he  said  :  '  Hearken,  O 
disciples  ;  everything  that  cometh  into  being  passeth  away.  Strive 
without  ceasing  1 '  These  were  his  last  words.  His  spirit  then 
rose  from  one  state  of  ecstasy  to  another,  up  and  down  through  all 
the  stages  of  rapture,  until  he  passed  into  Nirvana.  The  earth 
quaked  and  thunder  rolled.  At  the  moment  when  Buddha  en- 
tered Nirvana,  Brahma,  the  Eternal,  spake  these  words  :  '  In  the 
worlds  at  some  time  all  beings  put  off  their  bodily  frame  ;  at 
this  very  moment  Buddha,  the  prince  of  victory,  the  supreme 
master  of  all  worlds,  the  mighty  Holy  One,  hath  entered  into 
Nirvana.'  "  ^ 

Death  of  Buddha  {still  another  iraditioii).  —  "Ananda  sent 
messengers  to  all  the  disciples  that  the  Blessed  One  was  dead ;  and 
when  they  heard  this  saying,  they,  with  their  young  men,  their 
maidens,  and  their  wives,  were  grieved  and  afflicted  and  sad  and 
troubled  at  heart.  And  some  of  them  wept,  dishevelling  their  hair, 
and  some  stretched  forth  their  arms  and  wept,  and  some  fell  pros- 
trate on  the  ground,  and  some  reeled  to  and  fro  in  anguish  at  the 
thought.  '  Too  soon,'  they  cried,  '  hath  the  Blessed  One  died  ! 
Too  soon  hath  the  Happy  One  passed  away  !  Too  soon  hath 
the  Light  gone  out  of  the  world  ! '  "  2 

^  Oldenberg,  p.  203. 

-  This  description  is  from  ancient  Buddhistic  sermons,  dating  back 
probably  to  the  fourth  century  before  Christ  (Davids  :  Buddhistic 
Suttas,  vi.  24). 


2  84  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

This  ancient  Buddhist  "Book  of  the  Great  Decease" 
closes  its  touching  narrative  of  Buddha's  departure  with : 

"  Bow  down  with  clasped  hands  !  Hard,  hard  is  it  to  meet 
with  a  Buddha  through  ages  of  ages  !  "  ^ 

A  Modem  BuddJiistic  Liturgy.  —  The  world  is  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  possess  a  complete  form  of  a  modern  Buddhistic 
liturgy,  compiled  originally  by  a  pious  Chinese  emperor  in 
141 2  A.  D.,  though  probably  existing  much  before  that  time. 
It  is  to  be  found  in  Beal's  "  Catena."  ^  After  many  directions 
as  to  forms  and  ceremonies,  the  liturgy  piously  says :  — 

"  But  if  at  the  time  of  prayer  there  be  no  devotional  thoughts, 
but  only  a  confused  way  of  going  through  external  duties,  and  if 
there  be  after  worship  indifferent  conversation,  gossiping,  and  bab- 
bling, hurrying  to  and  fro,  lounging  or  sleeping,  just  as  on  ordinary 
days,  .  .  .  what  benefit  or  assistance  can  we  look  for  from  our 
religious  exertions?  .  .  .  Finally,  let  all  worshippers  strive  after  a 
firm  faith,  and  excite  in  themselves  an  earnest  intention,  and  so 
having  purified  thought,  speech,  and  action,  and  engaging  in  this 
worship  in  a  spirit  of  entire  devotion,  tliey  shall  obtain  an  answer 
to  their  prayers."  ^ 

Chant.  — "  In  close  heart  communion  we  adore  the  eternal 
Buddha,  the  eternal  Law,  the  eternal  Church   (Order)." 

One  portion  of  the  service  closes  with  this  grand 
expression :  — 

"So  through  endless  ages  yet  to  come,  discharging  these  sacred 
duties,  all  sentient  creatures,  united  at  length  with  the  Divine 
essence,  shall  obtain  supreme  wisdom,  —  the  state  that  admits  of 
no  birth,  the  wisdom  of  Buddha  himself.'  * 

^  Davids  :  Buddhistic  Suttas,  p.  136. 

2  Catena,  p.  398.  »  Ibid.,  p.  400.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  402. 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDHISM.  285 

The  great  object  of  worship  in  this  Hturgy  is  Kwan-Yin, 
who  is  elsewhere  described  as  the  Offspring  of  the  Eternal 
Light,  ^  the  Redeemer  of  the  world,  or  Word  of  God,^  a 
manifestation  of  God  himself,  and  one  form  of  the  beloved 
Buddha.     The  liturgy  continues  :  — 

"  Oh,  would  that  our  own  teacher  [Buddha],  and  our  merciful 
Father  and  Lord,  would  descend  to  this  sacred  place  and  be  pres- 
ent with  us  who  now  discharge  these  religious  duties.  Would  that 
the  great,  illimitable,  compassionate  Heart,  influenced  by  these 
invocations,  would  now  attend  and  receive  these  our  offerings. 
May  the  omniscient  and  omnipotent  Redeemer  .  .  .  now  come 
among  us  and  remove  from  us  imi:)urities  of  thought,  speech,  and 
action." 

Chant. 

Hail,  thou  ever  present  Redeemer,  who  hast  perfected  righteous- 
ness and  art  possessed  of  great  mercy,  who  art  manifested-  through- 
out the  universe  for  the  protection  and  defence  of  all  creatures,  and 
who  leadest  to  the  attainment  of  boundless  wisdom,^  .  .  .  who 
dispellest  all  troubles,  even  diseases  and  ignorance,  who  art  able 
always  to  answer  prayer,  .  .  .  who  removest  all  doubt,  .  .  .  pos- 
sessed of  infinite  spiritual  power,  beyond  the  capacity  of  language 
to  express  ;  we  accordingly  adore  thee  and  worship  thee  with  one 
heart  and  one  mind.'*  All  hail,  great,  compassionate  Redeemer  ! 
.  .  .  may  I  soon  attain  the  eyes  of  Divine  wisdom,  may  I  soon 
pass  over  the  sea  of  sorrow,  may  I  quickly  attain  holiness,  may  I 
reach  Nirvana. 

Though  I  were  cast  on  the  mountain  of  knives, 

They  should  not  hurt  me  ; 
Thou2;h  thrown  into  the  midst  of  the  lake  of  fire, 

It  should  not  burn  me. 

1  Amitabha.  2  Catena,  p.  385. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  403.  4  ii3i(j^  p  404. 


286  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Thougli  hurled  to  the  lowest  hell, 

It  should  not  hold  me  ; 
Though  hungry  ghosts  surround  me, 

They  should  not  touch  me. 
Though  exposed  to  the  power  of  wicked  spirits, 

Their  malice  should  not  reach  me. 
Though  transformed  among  the  lowest  forms  of  life, 

I  should  attain  to  the  highest  wisdom.^ 

Confession. 

We  and  all  men  from  the  very  first,  by  reason  of  the  grievous 
sins  we  have  committed  in  thought,  word,  and  deed,  have  lived  in 
ignorance  of  the  Enlightened  Ones  [the  different  manifestations 
of  Buddha],  and  of  any  way  of  escape  from  the  consequences  of 
our  conduct.  We  have  followed  only  the  course  of  this  evil 
world,  nor  have  we  known  aught  of  supreme  wisdom ;  and  even 
now,  though  enlightened  as  to  our  duty,  yet  with  others  we  still 
commit  heavy  sins,  which  prevent  us  advancing  in  true  knowledge. 
Therefore  in  the  presence  of  the  Redeemer  and  the  Buddhas  we 
would  humble  ourselves  and  repent  us  of  our  transgressions.^ 

The  worshipper  then,  after  a  complete  prostration,  hum- 
bly says :  — 

"  We  and  all  men  from  the  first,  from  too  great  love  of  outward 
things,  and  from  inward  affection  to  men,  leading  to  sinful  friend- 
ships, having  no  wish  to  benefit  others,  or  to  do  good  in  the  least 
degree,  have  only  strengthened  the  power  of  the  sources  of  sin  and 
added  sin  to  sin  ;  and  even  though  our  actual  crimes  have  not  been 
so  great,  yet  a  wicked  heart  hath  troubled  us  within  ;  day  and  night 
without  interval  or  hesitancy  have  we  continually  contrived  how  to 
do  wrong.  There  hath  been  no  desire  after  knowledge,  no  fear 
of  misery,  no  alarm,  no  heart-chiding ;  we  have  gone  on  heedless 
of  consequences.     Now  therefore  believing  from  the  bottom  of  the 

i  Catena,  p.  405.  2  ibid.,  p.  407. 


SACRED    WRITINGS  OF  BUDDHISM.  287 

heart  in  the  certain  results  of  sin,  filled  with  fear  and  shame  and 
great  heart-chiding,  we  would  thus  publicly  repent  us  of  our  sins. 
We  would  cut  off  our  connection  with  worldly  objects,  and  aspire  to 
the  heart  of  knowledge  ;  we  would  separate  ourselves  from  evil, 
and  pursue  good  ;  we  would  diligently  recount  all  our  past  offences, 
and  earnestly  pursue  the  path  of  piety,  ever  remembering  the 
blessedness  of  heaven,  and  the  power  of  all  the  Buddhas  to  de- 
liver and  rescue  us  and  all  men  from  evil.  Hitherto  we  have  only 
gone  astray,  but  now  we  return  ;  oh,  would  that  the  merciful  Re- 
deemer [Kwan-Yin]  would  receive  our  tears  of  amendment." 

The  end  of  the  Service  is  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  pray  for  all  men  that  they  may  attain  perfection  of  wisdom ; 
I  pray  that  all  men  may  be  deeply  versed  in  the  wisdom  of  scrip- 
tures, and  acquire  perfect  knowledge.  I  pray  that  all  men  may 
agree  in  the  principles  of  truth,  and  maintain  peace,  and  reverence 
the  sacred  Order."  ^ 

It  should  be  noted  that  Kwan-Yin  is  called  Redeemer 
because  he  has  taken  oath  to  save  all  that  breathes. 

The  Earliest  Texts  of  Buddhism. 

King  Asoka's  Rock  Edicts  (250  i?.  c). 

"  Confess  and  believe  in  God,  who  is  the  worthy  object  of  obe- 
dience." ^  "I  have  appointed  religious  observance,  that  mankind 
having  listened  thereto  shall  be  brought  to  follow  in  the  right  path 
and  give  glory  to  God."  ^     "  All  the  heroism  that  the  Beloved  of 

^  Catena,  p.  409.  The  remarkable  resemblance  of  this  liturgy  to 
Christian  prayers  and  praise  may  possibly  be  due  to  the  early  in- 
fluence, in  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries,  of  Nestorian  Christians 
in  China.  But  if  so,  this  proves  the  great  kinship  of  the  ideas  at 
the  root  of  both  religions.     (See  Mosheim  :  Ecc.  Hist.,  i.  421.) 

2  Edict  I.,  Lillie,  p.  58.  8  Edict  VII. 


288  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

the  Gods  has  exhibited  is  in  view  of  another  Hfe  ;  earthly  glory 
brings  little  profit,  but  on  the  contrary  produces  a  loss  of  virtue. 
To  toil  for  heaven  is  difficult  for  peasant  and  for  priest,  unless  by  a 
supreme  effort  he  gives  up  all."  ^  "  Whoso  doeth  this  is  blessed  of 
the  inhabitants  of  this  world,  and  in  the  next  world  endless  moral 
merit  resulteth  from  such  religious  charity."^  "May  my  loving 
subjects  obtain  happiness  in  this  world  and  in  the  next."  ^  "A 
small  man  who  exerts  himself  somewhat  can  gain  for  himself 
great  heavenly  bliss ;  and  for  this  purpose  this  sermon  hath  been 
preached."  *  "  Confess  and  believe  in  God.  I  acknowledge  and 
confess  the  faults  that  have  been  cherished  in  my  heart."  ^  "  This 
is  true  religious  devotion,  this  is  the  sum  of  religious  instruction, 
that  it  shall  increase  the  mercy  and  charity,  the  truth  and  purity, 
the  kindness  and  honesty  of  the  world."  ^  "  The  precious  maxims 
of  the  Beloved  of  the  Gods  comprise  the  essence  of  learning  and 
spiritual  knowledge ;  namely,  dutiful  service  to  father  and  mother, 
to  spiritual  teachers,  the  love  of  friend  and  child,  charity  to  kin- 
folk,  to  servants,  to  Brahmans  that  cleanse  away  the  calamities  of 
generations.  Further,  also,  unceasing  perseverance  in  all  these 
things  is  fame."  '' 

Tolerance.  —  "A  man  should  honor  his  personal  creed,  but  not 
blame  that  of  his  neighbor.  ...  He  who  acteth  otherwise,  impair- 
eth  his  own  creed  and  injureth  that  of  others.  The  man,  whoever 
he  be,  who  possesseth  his  own  creed  and  blameth  that  of  others, 
saith,  '  Let  us  set  up  our  own  religion  in  full  light ; '  that  man,  I 
say,  doeth  much  injury  to  his  own  creed,  wherefore  religious  har- 
mony alone  is  good."  *  "  I  pray  with  every  variety  of  prayer  for 
those  who  differ  from  me  in  creed,  that  they  following  my  proper 
example  may  with  me  attain  unto  eternal  salvation."® 

1  Edict  X.,  Lillie,  p.  6i.  2  Edict  XII. 

3  Second  separate  Edict,  Burnouf. 

4  Rupnath  Rock.  Lillie.  p.  62.  ^  Delhi  Pillar. 

6  Delhi  Pillar,  Edict  VIII.  ^  Delhi  Pillar,  Edict  XIII. 

8  Rock  Edict  XII.  »  Delhi  Pillar,  Edict  VI. 


SACRED    U'RITLXGS   OF  BUDDHISM.  289 

"The  Beloved  of  the  Gods  does  not  esteem  glory  and  fame  as 
of  great  value,  for  it  may  be  got  by  crafty  and  unworthy  persons  ; 
to  me  there  is  no  satisfaction  in  worldly  pursuits  ;  the  most  worthy 
pursuit  is  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  world  ;  my  whole  endeavor  is 
to  be  blameless  toward  all  creatures,  to  make  them  happy  here 
below,  and  to  enable  them  to  attain  heaven."  ^ 

^  Alabaster,  Wheel  of  the  Law,  Preface,  xxxiv.  (quoted  from 
Edicts). 


19 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

REVIEW. 

TF  the  reader  will  cast  his  eye  over  the  preceding 
chapters,  he  will  see  that  all  the  great  and  leading 
families  of  races  in  the  world's  history  have  at  some  time 
received  the  inspiration  of  the  Unknown  God.  They  or 
their  ancestors  have  no  doubt  during  their  earliest  periods 
of  development  deified  natural  and  lifeless  objects,  and 
worshipped  stocks  and  stones  as  fetich.  Then  they  have 
adored  the  great  powers  or  appearances  of  Nature,  such 
as  the  storm,  the  thunder,  the  light,  and  above  all,  the  sky, 
or  heaven.  Next  they  have  risen  to  the  conception  of 
the  Heaven-God,  luminous,  resplendent,  eternal,  bringing 
light  and  life,  yet  perhaps  only  one  out  of  many  intelh- 
gent  powers  or  deities.  At  that  stage  of  development  the 
Sun  is  the  great  personification  of  Deity.  He  rises  glorious 
over  the  desert  sands  or  the  illimitable  waters,  and  night 
shadows  flee,  and  the  world,  seemingly  in  death,  wakes 
to  life,  and  a  new  existence  of  joy  and  activity  begins. 
With  his  coming  not  only  darkness  departs,  but  moral 
shadows,  and  he  becomes  the  emblem  of  truth  and  justice 
and  beneficence.     The  magnificent  orb  is  the  impersona- 


REVIEW.  291 

tion  of  a  Power,  glorious,  unspeakable,  benevolent,  which 
causes  and  governs  all.  This  is  the  Heaven-God,  and  soon 
the  Day-Father,  the  Father  in  heaven. 

This  is  the  usual  and  natural  development  among 
masses  of  men.  The  m)'th-making  fancy  attaches  itself 
to  these  ideas,  and  changes  and  remoulds  them  endlessly. 
And  where  the  imagination  is  stronger  than  the  reason 
or  the  moral  facult)%  and  under  control  of  the  sensual 
feelings,  we  have  the  phenomena  of  polytheism,  idolatry, 
and  all  its  degrading  efifccts,  even  down  to  the  most  cruel 
and  licentious  rites  of  worship. 

But  during  this  development  of  religion  from  the  lowest 
stage  of  animalism,  there  will  always  be  individuals,  and 
sometimes  races,  with  the  capacity  for  the  highest  inspira- 
tion. ]\Ien  will  arise  to  whom  the  intuition  of  God,  as 
the  One  all-causing,  all-loving,  ever-enduring,  will  come 
home  as  the  most  real  thing  in  the  universe, —  men  who  at 
once  know  its  truth,  who  live  for  it  and  die  for  it,  and  to 
whom  all  other  human  beliefs  are  as  nothing  in  the  bal- 
ance. These  men  are  the  prophets  and  inspired  leaders 
of  the  world  ;  and  if  their  intuition  be  of  a  God  of  right- 
eousness, or  a  God  who  is  Father,  they  necessarily  lead  the 
moral  progress  of  their  race  and  of  mankind.  \Vc  have 
seen  that  the  most  ancient  race  in  human  culture,  the 
Hamitic  famil}',  grasped  this  grand  thought  of  monotheism, 
and  with  it  attained  to  the  connected  truths  of  a  moral 
judgment  to  come  and  an  immortal  life  for  the  soul. 


292  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

The  Egypti^m  faith  at  one  period  seems  only  another 
form  of  the  highest  behef;  it  is  one  aspect,  apparently, 
of  the  Absolute  Religion.  But  the  race  which  received 
the  highest  intuition  of  the  Divine,  or  of  a  "  God  of  right- 
eousness," was  the  Semitic,  in  one  branch  the  Hebrews, 
and  in  another  (probably)  the  ancient  Akkadians  of  the 
valley  of  the  Euphrates. 

With  the  Jews,  this  revelation  was  probably  very  an- 
cient, and  was  handed  down  in  its  purest  form,  yet  in 
every  age  obscured  by  much  animalism  and  human  ideas 
of  the  divine,  so  that  only  a  chosen  few  retained  the  truth 
in  its  simplicity.  These  few,  however,  have  led  all  races, 
and  the  thoughts  and  imaginations  and  ideals  of  that 
roving  tribe  of  Oriental  herdsmen  now  guide  and  control 
all  advancing  civilization.  Their  related  people  —  the 
Chaldean  Akkadians — have  indeed  probably  transmitted 
much  to  their  kinsmen  the  Hebrews ;  but  otherwise  they 
have  passed  out  of  human  history. 

Passing  over  to  the  Aryan  races,  we  find  many  of  its 
leading  peoples  recognizing  at  some  period  of  their  de- 
velopment the  One  God.  Far  back  in  Grecian  tradition 
and  poetry  appears  a  grand  figure,  the  spiritual  Zeus,  and 
in  Latin  memories  the  Omnipotent  Jove,  the  "  Best  and 
Greatest;  "  though  the  belief  in  the  Roman  Jupiter  is  earlier 
obscured  by  polytheism  and  myth  than  a  like  faith  among 
the  Greeks.  This  wonderful  Aryan  tribe  transmit  this 
grand  faith  through  the  Mysteries,  and  through  the  great 


REVIEW.  293 

thinkers,  Socrates  and  Plato,  and  above  all  by  means  of 
the  most  heroic  and  religious  school  of  thought  known  to 
antiquity  outside  of  Christianity,  —  the  Stoics. 

Looking  farther,  to  the  Oriental  Aryans,  we  find  the 
Iranians  rising  to  the  highest  and  purest  faith  (in  many 
respects)  ever  granted  to  man.  The  Heaven-God,  pictured 
by  the  luminous  and  resplendent  sky,  and  by  the  sun 
itself,  is  the  Being  of  infinite  moral  Light,  of  Truth,  and 
Purity.  He  is  Truth  itself.  He  is  Ahura  Mazda,  or  the 
Lord  All-knowing.  Certainly  if  man  should  ever  take  any 
material  object  as  representing  or  picturing  the  mysterious 
Existence  which  is  unknowable,  he  would  naturally  choose 
the  life-giving,  glorious  sun,  bringing  splendor  and  beauty, 
and  driving  away  darkness  and  death.  And  if  things 
created  could  possibly  contain  or  express  him,  what  altar 
or  temple  could  for  a  moment  be  so  fittingly  conceived  to 
be  his  dwelling,  as  the  infinite  expanse  of  the  sky  and  the 
boundless,  luminous  ether  ?  The  Sun-worship  and  the 
adoration  of  Light  might  well  have  gone  down  through 
the  ages  as  one  of  man's  many  defective  efforts  to  grasp 
the  infinite  and  to  know  the  unknowable.  But  the  ancient 
Iranians,  or  Persians,  attempted  to  explain  the  problems 
of  existence  by  the  supposition  of  another  and  evil  Power 
in  the  universe. 

The  modern  intellect  does  not  even  claim  to  explain  the 
origin  of  moral  evil.  It  takes  refuge  in  its  own  limitation. 
It  knows  that  the  human  mind  can  see  but  a  small  segment 


294  THE    UNKNOWiY  COD. 

of  an  infinite  circle.  It  finds  enough,  as  did  also  the  Greek 
intellect,  in  the  structure  of  the  moral  universe  to  justify 
confidence  and  hope.  But  the  theory  of  two  gods,  though 
so  attractive,  and  explanatory  of  so  much  that  is  mysteri- 
ous in  the  world,  leads  to  endless  confusion  and  discour- 
agement. Even  if,  as  under  the  Zoroastrian  faith,  the  Good 
Spirit  (or  Ormazd)  finally  overcomes  the  Evil  (or  Ahri- 
man)  and  becomes  the  One  Unknown  God,  still  his  om- 
nipotence is  shaken,  and  the  Father  of  all  is  but  one  Victor 
among  many  spirits  warring  during  the  ages  of  eternity. 
Such  a  faith  cannot  feed  the  human  soul,  and  dies  out  at 
last.  Yet  the  Iranian  conceptions  of  the  life  beyond  the 
grave,  and  the  moral  retributions  connected  therewith,  and 
of  the  spirits  unseen  associated  with  man,  and  the  future 
Redeemer  who  shall  take  away  the  sting  of  death  and  save 
the  world,  have  survived,  and  united  with  the  Jewish  faiths 
and  inspirations.  In  this  form  they  have  become  the 
eternal  property  of  the  human  race,  and  the  expression  of 
its  highest  hopes.  Socrates  had  apparently  heard  of  the 
Persian  faith  in  a  Redeemer,  when  he  said  that  at  length 
one  would  arise  even  among  the  barbarians,  who  could 
charm  away  the  fear  of  death. ^  Probably  all  the  higher 
races  have  at  times  felt  this  hope.  The  revelation  of  Christ 
has  only  confirmed  this  dim  expectation  and  dream  of 
humanity. 

Another  branch  of  the  Aryan  family,  the    Hindus,  are 
1  Phaedo. 


REVIEW.  295 

found  in  their  ancient  hymns  to  have  conceived  a  Deity 
who  is  the  Life  and  Source  of  all  things,  Varuna,  or 
ovpavo'i  (Heaven).  Human  language  cannot  express  more 
loftily  or  clearly  the  idea  of  One  who  made  all  things  and 
is  contained  in  no  temple  built  by  hands,  and  is  wor- 
shipped not  by  external  rites,  but  by  purity  of  heart  and 
beneficence  of  life,  than  do  these  Vedic  hymns.  When 
these  grand  ideas  have  penetrated  the  soul,  and  the  wor- 
shipper is  ready  to  say,  "  I  am  in  thee,  and  thou  art  in  me, 
and  all  things  are  in  thee,"  the  step  is  easy  to  the  thought, 
"  All  things  are  God."  The  individual  is  nothing.  God 
is  "  the  all  in  all."  He  moves  all  things.  The  will  of  man 
sinks  into  his  will,  not  by  voluntary  action,  but  of  necessity. 
There  is  no  free  will,  no  choice  of  purpose,  no  good  or 
evil,  in  man's  actions.  All  things  are  God  and  come  from 
him.  He  is  the  source  of  evil  and  the  source  of  good. 
Man  is  only  a  bubble  on  the  torrent  of  eternity.  He 
comes  forth  from  the  Eternal  One  and  returns  to  him  and 
is  lost  in  him.  The  human  instrument  has  no  character; 
he  can  expect  no  retribution,  he  has  no  destiny.  He  is 
but  a  broken  fragment  of  the  vast,  passionless  Infinite 
Being.  This  is  Hindu  pantheism.  But  when  this  could 
not  satisfy  the  soul,  the  imagination  of  the  people  took 
hold  of  polytheism  and  idolatry.  And  according  to  the 
best  observers,  nothing  in  the  moral  results  of  mis- 
directed religion  can  ever  equal  in  horror  and  sensuality 
the  effects  of  pantheism  materialized  by  idolatry.     Man  is 


296  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

(riven  up  to  the  vilest  animalism,  and  attempts  to  believe 
that  this  is  God.  It  need  not  be  said  that  such  a  religion 
tends  to  the  utter  destruction  of  human  society.  But  in 
India  there  were  saving  elements.  The  ancient  Vedic 
faith  taught  the  Unknown  God,  and  the  truths  of  utter 
self-denial  and  absolute  integrity  and  love,  embracing  all 
creatures.  The  popular  belief  added  future  retribution  as 
a  moral  sanction.  And  finally  there  became  stamped  on 
the  Hindu  mind  as  a  solution  of  the  problem  of  moral 
evil  the  profound  and  hopeless  conviction  of  transmigra- 
tion, or  re-birth.  All  sin  and  pain  and  evil  were  the  con- 
sequences of  previous  existence,  and  must  go  on  to  create 
other  sin  and  wrong  and  suffering  in  future  lives.  Re- 
birth, ever  recurring,  was  the  black  horror  before  the 
Hindu  intellect.  It  was  a  pessimism  without  hope  or 
change.  The  evil  that  had  been  should  be  again,  and 
always  bring  its  own  punishment.  Not  Brahma  nor  Mara 
—  not  God  nor  Satan  — could  lessen  the  consequences  of 
an  evil  deed.  Yet  it  was  a  pessimism  based  on  eternal 
righteousness.  It  contained  the  seeds  of  life  everlasting. 
The  reform  came  in  a  peculiar  direction,  and  was  itself, 
with  all  its  defects,  full  of  divine  inspiration.  As  Tennyson 
in  his  wonderful  poem  makes  Lucretius  say:  — 

"  The  gods,  who  haunt 
The  lucid  interspace  of  world  and  world, 
Where  never  creeps  a  cloud,  or  moves  a  wind. 
Nor  ever  falls  the  least  white  star  of  snow, 


REl'IEW.  297 

Nor  ever  lowest  roll  of  thunder  moans, 
Nor  sound  of  human  sorrow  mounts  to  mar 
Their  sacred  everlasting  calm  !  and  such, 
Not  all  so  fine,  or  so  divine  a  calm, 
Not  such,  nor  all  unlike  it,  man  may  gain, 
Letting  his  own  life  go." 

Such  a  peace  of  Nirvana  was  conceived  by  a  great 
Hindu  personality,  where  the  pains  of  re-birth,  and  the 
storms  of  passion,  and  the  pangs  of  sorrow,  and  the  tor- 
ture of  sin  and  selfishness  should  cease  by  "  letting  one's 
own  life  go."  The  believer  was  to  so  fill  his  mind  with 
love  to  all  beings  above  and  below,  here  and  hereafter,  so 
free  his  soul  from  all  sensuality  and  passion,  so  consecrate 
himself  to  human  service  and  the  cure  of  human  ills,  that 
a  peace  like  that  which  bathed  the  gods  of  Lucretius 
should  settle  upon  him.  lie  would  escape  the  horrors 
of  re-birth,  the  stings  of  wild  desire,  the  sense  of  sin,  and 
the  agony  of  sorrow.  In  the  view  of  many  of  Buddha's 
followers  he  would  be  in  eternal  union  with  Brahma 
himself;  he  would  be  in  a  heaven  which  no  time  or  event 
could  reach  or  change. 

This  strange  mystical  belief  w^as  conditioned  by  the 
most  elevated  morality  and  the  highest  sympathy  and 
benevolence.  There  could  be  no  Nirvana  without  lives 
of  labor  for  humanity,  and  the  utmost  purity  and  truth. 
Buddha's  religion  was  "  compassion  seeking  to  save." 
This  alone  has  given  it  a  life  of  nearly  twenty-five  centu- 
ries.    But  the  want  of  a  direct  faith  in  God  as  Father  and 


298  THE   UNKXOVVN  GOD. 

of  sure  hope  in  life  eternal  has  doomed  it  to  final  extinc- 
tion. Despite  its  noble  morality  and  its  divine  compas- 
sion, it  must  pass  away. 

The  Unknown  God  is  there,  for  "  God  is  Love,"  but  not 
through  a  revelation  sufficiently  clear,  or  an  inspiration  so 
overpowering,  as  to  lead  humanity  through  its  long  and 
weary  wanderings  in  coming  ages.  Yet  it  is  an  incredible 
satisfaction  that  to  so  many  millions  oC  human  beings  the 
invisible  things  of  the  unseen  Creator  were  made  manifest 
through  many  centuries,  even  his  everlasting  power  and 
his  divinity  or  beneficence. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

HEATHEN   INSPIRATION   AND   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

There  was  the  true  Lii;ht  which  lighteth  rjery  man  as  he  cometh  into  the 
world.  —  John  i.  9. 

IT  is  important  at  this  point  to  ask  what  is  the  view 
of  the  Christian  Scriptures  as  to  the  non-Christian 
religions,  and  the  beHef  in  God  among  the  "  nations,"  or 
lieathcn. 

In  the  Old  Testament  there  are  allusions  which  would 
show  that  the  heathen  attributed  to  their  gods  what  really 
belonged  to  Jahveh.  Thus  Isaiah  (or  his  successor)  says 
of  Cyrus  that  he  was  guided  and  led  towards  justice  and 
righteousness  by  Jahveh,  though  he  knew  it  not;  the  in- 
rxriptions  showing  that  he  attributed  his  own  inspiration 
to  Merodach  (the  Assyrian  god),  as  if  the  Divine  Being 
gave  men  inspirations  which  they  attribute  to  false  gods.^ 
And  in  one  passage  the  prophet  Micah  seems  to  believe 
that  a  heathen  nation  in  the  happy  times  coming  may 
walk  righteously  in  the  inspiration  of  its  own  deity,  while 
the  Jews  live  in  the  fear  and  love  of  their  own  God. 
"They  shall  beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares  and 
their  spears  into  pruning-hooks.  Nation  shall  not  lift  up 
1  Isaiah  xlv.  4,  5,  and  Sayce,  Ancient  Mon.,  p.  156. 


300  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

sword  against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any- 
more; ...  for  all  the  peoples  will  walk  every  one  in  the 
name  of  his  god,  and  we  will  walk  in  the  name  of  Jahveh 
for  ever  and  ever,"  ^  —  the  idea  perhaps  being  that  under 
a  perfect  humanity  the  nations  will  worship  the  same 
Being,  though  under  different  names. 

In  the  New  Testament  we  have  first  the  remarkable  ex- 
pression of  John  in  the  opening  of  his  Gospel :  "  There 
was  the  true  Light  which  lighteth  every  man  coming  into 
the  world  "  (or,  "as  he  cometh  into  the  world  ").2  That 
is,  the  light  from  God,  which  was  most  of  all  manifested 
in  Christ,  has  visited  every  human  being,  of  whatever  race 
or  creed  or  rank.  The  human  soul  is  constituted  to  re- 
ceive divine  inspirations,  and  everywhere  is  touched  by 
them.  But  though  this  Light  was  in  the  world  and  the 
world  was  made  by  him,  the  world  knew  him  not/'^ 

As  a  whole,  the  world  did  not  receive  and  follow  these 
inner  inspirations.  Wherever  the  Jews,  or  the  "  nations," 
opened  their  souls  to  this  spiritual  influence,  we  may  call 
them  "  inspired  "  in  greater  or  less  degree.  This  inspira- 
tion may  be  defined  as  a  supernatural  elevation  of  the 
moral  and  spiritual  faculties;*  not,  except  indirectly,  a 
strengthening  of  the  judgment  or  wisdom  or  intellect,  but 
a  power  is  given  the  persons  inspired  to  see  moral  truth 

^  Micah  iv.  3,  5.  This  passage,  however,  may  be  susceptible  of 
another  interpretation. 

=^  John  i.  9.  ^  John  i.  2  *  Morell. 


HEATHEN  INSPIRATION.  301 

more  distinctly,  and  better  to  know  God.  Such  inspira- 
tions may  visit  all  men,  of  every  degree  of  civilization; 
but  they  will  probably  be  most  powerful  among  tribes  in 
close  contact  with  Nature,  and  where  solitude,  with  not 
too  grinding  toil,  opens  the  soul  to  grand  impressions. 

Every  human  being  can  recall  occasionally  in  his  expe- 
rience moments  when  sudden  and  grand  visions  of  truth, 
not  to  be  accounted  for  by  any  apparent  causes,  burst 
upon  his  mind.  Such  may  be  Divine  inspirations,  per- 
haps not  miraculous,  but  from  the  ever-acting  Spirit  of 
God,  working  through  the  laws  of  the  human  soul. 

This  principle  of  the  universality  of  Divine  influence 
came  home  early  to  the  mind  of  Christ's  apostles;  and 
Peter,  when  he  has  discovered  that  in  God's  sight  no  man 
is  common  or  unclean^  because  he  is  a  Gentile  or  heathen, 
is  compelled  to  utter  the  great  truth  of  charity,  "  Of  a 
truth,  I  perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons ;  but 
in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  him  and  worketh  righteous- 
ness is  acceptable  to  him."^ 

The  Apostles  were  surrounded  by  Greek  and  Latin 
Stoics,  the  believers  in  the  spiritual  Zeus,  the  Egyptian 
worshippers  of  Xoper  and  followers  of  Osiris,  the  disciples 
of  Zoroaster  and  perhaps  of  Buddha,  and  divers  others  of 
various  creeds.  They  did  not  class  all  these  as  believers 
in  devils  or  evil  spirits.  Some  they  held  as  worshippers 
of  "  dead  gods"  {deoyv  veKpoiv),  as  the  "Teachings  of  the 
1  Acts  X.  28.  2  ^^cts  X.  34,  35. 


302  THE    UIV KNOWN  GOD. 

Twelve  Apostles "  call  them  ;  ^  but  others,  they  see,  are 
"  fearing  God "  and  "  working  righteousness,"  and  are 
"  acceptable  to  him."  They  did  not  the  less  exalt  Christ 
and  his  gospel,  that  they  acknowledged  those  who  wor- 
shipped under  heathen  names  as  true  believers  in  God.^ 

So  Paul  finds  "  disciples "  in  Ephesus  who  had  never 
even  heard  of  the  existence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  prob- 
ably not  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  who  had  repented  of  sins 
and  waited  for  a  Redeemer,^  as  so  many  non-Christians 
have  done  in  all  ages. 

But  the  great  sermon  of  Paul  at  Athens  (of  which  un- 
happily we  have  such  a  brief  report)  should  be  the  model 
and  lesson  for  all  Christians  who  speak  and  write  of  the 
faiths  of  non-Christian  peoples.     These  are  his  words :  — 

"  Ye  men  of  Athens,  in  all  things  I  perceive  that  ye  are  exceed- 
ingly religious.  For  as  I  passed  along,  and  observed  the  objects  of 
your  worship,  I  found  also  an  altar  with  this  inscription,  *  To  the 
Unknown  God.'  What  therefore  ye  worship  in  ignorance,  this  set 
I  forth  unto  you.  The  God  that  made  the  world  and  all  things 
therein,  he,  being  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  dwelleth  not  in  tem- 

1  Teachings  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  p.  135. 

2  The  words  of  Christ  that  "no  one  cometh  unto  the  Father  but 
through  me"  (John  xiv.  6)  seem  at  first  opposed  to  this  view.  But 
may  not  these  be  interpreted,  "  No  man  can  come  into  union  with 
God  except  through  the  spirit  in  me,  through  self-sacrifice  and  love"  ? 
for  "  God  is  Love."  Accordingly  those  who  have  never  heard  of 
Christ  —  the  heathen  and  the  unfortunates  in  Christian  lands  —  may 
by  their  humility  and  unselfishness  and  devotion  be  inspired  by  that 
"  Comforter  "  spoken  of  by  Saint  John  (John  xiv.  26),  even  the  spirit 
of  Christ,  and  so  "  come  unto  the  Father." 

'  Acts  xix.  1-4. 


HEATHEN  IXSPIRATION.  303 

pies  made  with  hands  ;  neither  is  he  served  by  men's  hands,  as 
though  he  needed  anything,  seeing  he  himself  giveth  to  all  life,  and 
breath,  and  all  things  ;  and  he  made  of  one  every  nation  of  men 
for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  having  determined  their 
appointed  seasons,  and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation ;  that  they 
should  seek  God,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after  him  and  find  him, 
though  he  is  not  far  from  each  one  of  us  :  for  in  him  we  live,  and 
move,  and  have  our  being ;  as  certain  even  of  your  own  poets  have 
said,  For  we  are  also  his  offspring.  Being  then  the  offspring  of 
God,  we  ought  not  to  think  that  the  Godhead  is  Hke  unto  gold, 
or  silver,  or  stone,  graven  by  art  and  device  of  man.  The  times 
of  ignorance  therefore  God  overlooked ;  but  now  he  commandeth 
men  that  they  should  all  everywhere  repent ;  inasmuch  as  he  hath 
appointed  a  day,  in  the  which  he  will  judge  the  world  in  righteous- 
ness by  the  man  whom  he  hath  ordained  ;  whereof  he  hath  given 
assurance  unto  all  men,  in  that  he  hath  raised  him  from  the 
dead."  ^ 

This  great  preacher  docs  not  begin  his  message  of  a  new 
religion  by  denouncing  the  old.  Amid  a  crowd  of  the 
most  beautifid  structures  for  worship  or  the  expression  of 
poetical  fancy  ever  erected  by  man  he  merely  notes  the  pro- 
found religious  sentiment  beneath  them ;  he  observes  that 
the  people  of  Athens  are  in  all  things  (not  "  somewhat 
superstitious,"  which  is  inconsistent  with  his  argument, 
but)  "  exceedingly  religious  "  (which  is  equally  true  to  the 
Greek  words).  He  adroitly  mentions,  among  the  innumer- 
able altars  and  temples  which  had  attracted  his  attention, 
an   altar  inscribed,  "  To   the  ^   Unknown    God   QAyvoiarw 

^  Acts  xvii.  22-32. 

2  "The"  is  equally  correct  with  "an,"  and  agrees  with  the  argu- 
ment beUcr. 


304  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

^eco),  built,  we  may  suppose,  by  pious  Greeks  to  gain  the 
protection  of  some  foreign  god,  or  by  some  genuine  wor- 
shipper of  the  "  God  of  All."  Some  of  his  audience  had 
no  doubt  worshipped  the  Spiritual  Zeus,  the  God  of  their 
poets,  the  Being  adored  in  the  secret  worship  of  the  Mys- 
teries, and  to  whom  noble  praise  had  been  rendered  by 
the  Stoics.  The  great  Apostle  does  not  denounce  this 
worship,  or  deride  the  idea  of  Zeus,  though  it  had  been 
so  much  corrupted  by  mythology.  He  only  offers  with 
a  gentleness  like  that  of  his  Master  to  "  set  forth  "  that 
Being  whom  they  had  "  worshipped  in  ignorance."  He 
pictures  him  even  as  the  great  Stoical  poets  and  philoso- 
phers, both  Greek  and  Roman,  had  pictured  him,  —  as 
One  who  had  created  all  things,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth, 
dwelling  not  in  human  temples,^  nor  needing  aught  from 
men,  who  had  given  them  all  things,  and  had  made  all 
races  and  nations  one. 

Before  this  assembly  of  the  intellectually  elite  of  the 
ancient  world  this  strange  and  barbarous  Jew  is  found 
announcing  a  higher  spirituality  and  more  perfect  hu- 
manity than  even  the  greatest  Stoics  had  known.  This 
Oriental  preacher  tells  them  also  that  the  Unknown  God 
had  so  formed  all  the  races  of  men  that  they  should  search 
for  him  and  feel  after  him  and  find  him,  though  he  was 
always  near  them ;  and  then  with  a  large  liberality  he 
quotes  what  the  Stoics  had  said  of  Zeus,  "  For  in  him  we 
^  A  thought  often  dwelt  upon  by  Stoics. 


HEA  THEN  INSPIRA  TION.  305 

live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being,"  and  also  what  Aratus 
and  Cleanthes  had  written  of  Zeus,  "  For  we  are  his  off- 
spring." ^  To  him  for  the  moment  Zeus  represented  the 
idea  of  God,  —  the  One,  spiritual,  omnipotent,  all-wise; 
and  from  this  basis  the  Apostle  argues  to  the  higher 
ideal  of  God  in  Christianity,  and  to  the  direct  message 
of  Christ  of  repentance,  and  the  hope  offered  by  him  of 
resurrection. 

Following  out  these  ideas,  the  Apostle  reasons  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans^  that  the  nature  of  the  true  God 
has  always  been  revealed  to  the  heathen ;  that  they  could 
always  see  his  "  everlasting  power  "  and  his  "  divinity,"  his 
purity  and  love  and  truth,  in  nature ;  and  that  in  con- 
sequence their  violations  of  his  law  "  had  no  excuse." 
And  after  a  terrible  picture  of  the  sins  of  men,  especially 
of  the  heathen,  he  still  offers  a  door  of  escape.  "  For 
when  Gentiles  which  have  no  law  do  by  nature  the  things 
of  the  law,  these,  having  no  law,  are  a  law  unto  them- 
selves ;  in  that  they  show  the  w^ork  of  the  law  written  in 
their  hearts,  their  conscience  bearing  witness  therewith, 
and  their  thoughts  one  with  another  accusing  or  else  ex- 
cusing them."  3     He  apparently  teaches  here  that  there  is 

Eac  Atof  afi)(ci)fx€a6a  tov  ovSfTror'  avhpts  foifxtu 
upprjTov  !   p.((TTa\  8e  Aioj  naaai  pev  dyviai 
Trdcrai  8'  avdpoiTrayv  dyopai  '    fifarfi  8e  BaKaaaa 
KCLi  \ip(Vfv  ■   navTTj  8e  Aius    ice-)(prifi(6a  ndpres' 
TOV  yap  Km  yeTOy  tapiv. 

Aratus  of  Soli  (from  the  poem  ^aivbixeva). 
'^  Romans  i.  20,  21.  a  Romans  ii.  14,  15. 

20 


306  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

among  the  heathen  a  faculty,  God-given,  the  conscience, 
which  shall  acquit  or  condemn;  that  is,  there  is  from  na- 
ture such  a  knowledge  of  its  Creator,  and  such  a  sense  of 
truth  and  justice  and  love,  granted  to  all  men,  that  the 
mind  through  its  feeling  for  right  can  give  the  sentence 
of  acquittal  or  condemnation. 

Paul  in  one  place  avows  himself  "a  debtor  of  the  Greeks." 
There  are  so  many  passages  in  his  Epistles  strongly  re- 
sembling words  of  leading  Stoics,  that  treatises  have  been 
written  to  show  his  indebtedness  to  Seneca  and  others. 
However  this  may  be,  in  one  eloquent  passage  it  seems 
to  me  he  had  in  view  the  noble  and  humane  sentiments  of 
the  Greek  and  Roman  thinkers  around  him ;  and  though 
he  offered  his  followers  in  Philippi  something  higher  than 
Stoicism,  yet  he  could  speak  thus:  "Finally,  brethren, 
whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  reverend, 
whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure, 
whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  gra- 
cious, if  there  be  any  virtue  or  any  praise,  think  on  these 
things."  ^  The  hope  of  immortal  life  and  the  absorb- 
ing love  of  Christ  could  not  blind  him  to  the  beauty 
and  grandeur  in  the  teachings  of  non-Christian  scholars, 
and  he  held  all  this,  too,  to  belong  to  Christian  life  and 
doctrine. 

In  another  passage  ^  he  speaks  of  the  gospel  as  hav- 
ing been  "preached  to  every  creature  under  heaven" 
1  Philippians  iv.  8.  ^  Colossians  i.  23. 


HEATHEN  INSPIRATION.  307 

at  a  time  when  in  fact  only  a  {q\\  Jews  and  heathen  had 
heard  it.  Saint  Augustine,  whether  led  by  this  passage  or 
others,  declares  that  the  truths  at  the  basis  of  Christianity 
had  been  known  to  the  ancients  from  the  beginning,  and 
that  "  it  was  called  Christianity  in  our  day,  not  as  having 
been  wanting  in  former  times,  but  as  having  in  later  times 
received  this  name."  ^  Again  he  sa}s :  "We  bring  you 
good  tidings,  that  ye  should  turn  from  these  vain  things 
unto  the  living  God,  who  made  the  heaven,  and  the  earth, 
and  the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is,  who  in  the  generations 
gone  by  suffered  all  the  nations  to  walk  in  their  own  ways. 
And  yet  he  left  not  Jiiviself  ivitJiout  witness,  in  that  he  did 
good,  and  gave  you  from  heaven  rains  and  fruitful  seasons, 
filling  your  hearts  with  food  and  gladness."  ^  So  with  other 
Apostles.  When  John  says,  "  Beloved,  let  us  love  one  an- 
other, for  love  is  of  God  ;  and  every  one  that  loveth  is  be- 
gotten of  God,  and  knoweth  God,"  "^  he  gives  one  of  those 
definitions  of  religion  which  must  have  included  many  a 
humble  heathen  who  had  never  even  heard  of  the  exist- 
ence of  Christ,  but  who  loved  the  Unknown  God,  and 
"  worked  righteousness,"   waiting  for  light. 

Christ  and  the  Apostles  frequently  allude  to  the  Divine 
instruction  and  training  of  the  ancient  Jews  as  being 
adapted  to  their  low  moral  condition ;  as  if  there  were 
evils  among  them  which  God  "  overlooked  "  or  permitted 
because  they  had  not  grown  up  to  higher  ideas.     Among 

1  Op.,  i.  12.  2  ^cts  xiv.  15,  16.  '^  I  John,  iv.  7. 


308  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

these  were  plainly  hatred  of  enemies,  blood-revenge,  free- 
dom of  divorce,  concubinage,  polygamy,  and  slavery.  Take 
these  passages:  "That  ye  turn  from  these  vain  things  unto 
the  living  God,  who  made  the  heaven,  and  the  earth,  and 
the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is,  who  in  the  generations 
gone  by  suffered  all  the  nations  to  walk  in  their  own 
ways ;  "  ^  "  The  times  of  ignorance,  therefore,  God  over- 
looked, but  now  he  commandeth  men  that  they  should 
all  everywhere  repent;"^  "Moses  for  your  hardness  of 
heart  suffered  you  to  put  away  your  wives,"  ^ — these  and 
similar  words  contain  commands  approved  of  Jahveh  in 
ancient  time,  but  supplanted  by  higher  maxims  of  Christ. 
Again  Christ,  in  picturing  the  future  life,  says :  "  And 
they  shall  come  from  the  east  and  west,  and  from  the  north 
and  south,  and  shall  sit  down  in  the  kingdom  of  God ; 
and  behold,  there  are  last  which  shall  be  first;  "^  as  if 
outside  of  the  apparent  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  there 
would   be   many  within  the   final  kingdom  of  heaven. 

1  Acts  xiv.  15,  16. 

"^  Acts  xvii.  35.  "  Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  to  them  of  old 
time,  Thou  shalt  not  kill ;  and  whosoever  shall  kill  shall  be  in  danger  of 
the  judgment  (Matt.  v.  21).  ...  Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said,  Thou 
shalt  not  commit  adultery  ;  but  I  say  unto  you  etc.  (27,  28).  ...  It 
was  said  also,  Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  let  him  give  her  a 
writing  of  divorcement  ;  but  I  say  unto  you,  etc.  (31) 

8  Matt,  xix.  8.  *  Luke  xiii.  29,  30. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE   CONVERSION   OF   THE   NON-CHRISTIAN  NATIONS. 

I  ^HE  question  now  comes  up  whether  we  can  reason- 
ably expect  that  this  inspiration  of  the  heathen  will 
culminate  in  Christianity.  The  apparent  obstacles  before 
our  missionaries  and  churches  in  non-Christian  lands  are 
certainly  not  nearly  so  great  now  as  they  were  to  the 
Apostles  and  their  successors  in  the  Roman  Empire.  The 
Christian  religion  leads  the  progress  of  the  world,  and 
has  all  the  prestige  which  belongs  to  the  faith  of  the  most 
moral,  powerful,  cultivated,  and  scientific  peoples  of  the 
world.  Persecution  cannot  alarm  its  followers,  and  the 
rewards  of  this  world  follow  the  confession  of  its  truths. 
Yet  many  persons  are  disturbed  at  its  slow  advance  among 
Oriental  and  non-Christian  races,  we  think  without  reason. 
The  progress  of  our  faith  in  the  last  hundred  years  among 
barbarous  or  pagan  peoples  has  been  a  wonderful  phe- 
nomenon. Still,  to  hopeful  minds  the  advance  of  the 
cross  against  pagan  banners  seems  astonishingly  slow. 

Undoubtedly  the  one  great  obstacle  to  the  spread  of 
Christianity  in  the  world  is  the  lives  of  its  professors.^     So 

^  The  following  words  were  spoken  to  Mr.  Terry,  the  first  English 
missionary  to  India,  1616  :  "  Christian  religion  !  Devil  religion  !  Chris- 


310  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

long  as  the  rumsellcr,  the  slave  trader,  the  dishonest  mer- 
chant, the  drunken  sailor,  or  licentious  soldier  represents 
the  Christian  religion  to  Eastern  peoples,  the  followers 
of  Mahomet  or  Buddha  or  Confucius  or  Brahma  will  prefer 
their  own  teacher,  or  prophet,  or  deity  to  any  which  this 
faith  may  offer.  They  will  justly  say,  "  By  their  fruits  shall 
ye  know  them ;  "  and  whatever  missionaries  and  teachers 
may  preach,  they  will  reject  the  religion  exemplified  by 
such  lives  as  they  have  long  known. 

The  great  counteracting  argument  is  the  sight  and  ex- 
perience of  the  best  fruit  of  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  —  a 
pure  family  life  in  a  Christian  home.  Therefore  it  seems 
to  us  an  error  (as  has  been  done)  to  urge  celibate  and 
monastic  establishments  by  Europeans  in  Oriental  and 
African  countries.     Nor  should  the  success  of  a  missionary 

tian  much  drunk,  Christian  much  do  wrong,  Christian  much  beat, 
Christian  much  abuse  others"  (Modern  India,  p.  236). 

A  distinguished  Hindu  Brahman,  Chunder  Sen,  converted  to 
Deism,  made  these  interesting  statements  in  a  speech  in  England. 
"  It  appears  to  me,  and  has  always  appeared  to  me,  that  no  Christian 
nation  on  earth  represents  fully  Christ's  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
I  do  believe,  and  I  must  candidly  say,  that  no  Christian  sect  puts  forth 
the  genuine  Christ  as  he  was  and  as  he  is  ;  but  in  some  cases  the 
mutilated,  disfigured  Christ,  and,  what  is  more  shameful,  in  some  cases 
a  counterfeit  Christ.  Now  I  wish  to  say  that  I  have  not  come  to 
England  as  one  who  haS  yet  to  find  Christ.  When  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics, the  Protestants,  Unitarians,  Trinitarians,  Broad  Church,  Low 
Church,  and  High  Church,  all  come  around  me  and  offer  their  re- 
spective Christs,  I  desire  to  say  to  one  and  all.  Thank  you  ;  I  have  my 
Christ  within  me  ;  though  an  Indian,  I  can  still  humbly  say.  Thank 
God  that  I  have  my  Christ"  (Hist.  Relig.  Thought,  p.  506). 


cox  VERSION  OF  NON-CHRISTIAN  NATIONS.      31 1 

be  tested  alone  by  the  number  of  his  nominal  converts. 
It  may  well  happen  that  his  best  influence  has  been  the 
silent  one  coming  out  from  a  disinterested  Christian  home 
and  family  life,  teaching  integrity,  industry,  kindness,  and 
brotherly  love  as  fruits  of  the  spirit  of  Christ.  It  is  not 
reported  that  Livingstone  ever  made  a  convert;  and  yet 
Africa  is  full  of  the  influence  produced  by  his  humane, 
truthful,  noble  spirit,  devoted  to  Christ  and  his  cause. 

Another  very  great  obstacle  to  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen  lies  in  the  divisions  of  the  Christian  Church. 
These  weaken  all  missionary  efforts.  Until  sufificient  unity 
is  secured  to  combine  without  opposition  or  jealousy  in 
works  aiming  at  the  conversion  of  the  non-Christian  world, 
but  little  effect  will  be  produced. 

We  do  not  concur  in  much  that  has  been  said  in  recent 
years  as  to  the  incapacity  and  self-indulgence  of  mission- 
aries in  foreign  countries.  Certainly  from  America  have 
been  sent  out  many  very  able  and  scholarly  men  who  have 
added  to  the  treasures  of  knowledge  of  the  world,  —men, 
too,  of  heroic,  self-denying  natures,  who  left  many  luxuries 
and  distinguished  careers  at  home,  and  have  devoted  whole 
lives  to  the  humble  work  of  teaching  distant  races  the  re- 
ligion of  Jesus.  It  seems  ungenerous  for  those  of  us  who 
are  "  at  ease  in  Zion  "  to  criticise  the  labors  of  these  noble 
and  heroic  men.  But  there  is  an  advance  in  human 
thought;  and  it  may  well  be  that  these  devoted  workers  for 
religion  and  humanity  have  not  kept  up  with  the  best  wis- 


312  THE    UNKNOWN  GOD. 

doni  of  the  day  in  regard  to  their  methods  of  instruction. 
For  instance,  have  our  missionaries  in  China  and  Japan 
and  India  kept  in  mind,  in  their  teachings,  the  great  model 
for  all  mission  work,  Saint  Paul's  speech  on  Mars  Hill  at 
Athens?  Should  not  an  American  missionary  addressing 
a  Buddhistic  audience  stand,  as  Paul  did,  on  what  they 
both  believed?  Should  he  not,  as  the  great  Apostle  did 
towards  the  Greeks,  show  his  respect  and  admiration  for 
their  sacred  writings,  and  for  the  spirit  of  the  saintly 
Gotama,  and  taking  the  texts  of  the  Dhammapada,  and  the 
life  of  Buddha,  argue  from  them  to  the  higher  manifesta- 
tion of  God  in  Christ  and  his  gospel?  Or  in  India  could 
he  not  quote  the  sublime  texts  of  the  Vedas,  and  lead  the 
hearers  up,  above  idolatry  and  polytheism,  to  a  higher 
conception  than  that  of  Brahma,  —  to  that  of  the  Infinite 
Father  and  his  incarnation  in  Jesus  Christ?  A  Chris- 
tian orator  could  admit  that  his  audience  had  often  wor- 
shipped an  Unknown  God  ;  but  he  could  offer  to  set  forth 
a  higher  God,  and  thus  win  their  minds  to  hear  further  of 
the  truth. 

If  Buddhism  has  gained  such  amazing  conquests  over 
Oriental  nations,  could  not  Christianity,  with  a  similar  but 
far  superior  humanity  and  self-sacrifice,  and  with  the  true 
Son  of  God  to  present,  gain  still  greater  victories?  There 
seems  nothing  to  prevent  an  Oriental  who  has  hung  on 
the  w^ords  of  Buddha  from  listening  even  more  intently 
to  the  words   of  Christ.     But  he  will   not  be   induced  to 


CONVERSION  OF  NON-CIIRISTIAN  NATIONS.      313 

do  so  by  denunciation  of  such  a  sweet  and  loving  soul 
as  Gotama. 

The  preacher  must  arm  himself  with  the  best  of  Buddha's 
truths,  and  then  show  the  higher  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus. 
He  must  offer  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  which  the  Hindu 
saint  never  mentally  grasped,  and  the  hope  of  a  conscious, 
living  immortalit}',  which  the  great  Mystic  may  not  fully 
have  attained. 

IVIay  we  not  imagine  a  Christian  scholar,  gathering  his 
little  audience  of  devout  Buddhists  in  some  village  of 
Ceylon,  or  China,  or  Japan,  thus  addressing  them :  — 

Supposed  Christian  Sermon  to  Buddhists. 

"  Brethren  in  humanity,  I  have  been  among  your  gor- 
geous temples  and  the  humble  shrines  of  your  poor,  and  I 
see  that  you  are  an  extraordinarily  religious  and  reverential 
people.  But  as  your  great  teacher  and  saint  has  said,  '  If 
a  man  live  a  hundred  years,  and  spend  the  whole  of  his  life 
in  religious  observances  and  offerings  to  the  gods,  this  is 
not  equal  to  one  act  of  pure  love;  '  ^  or,  '  If  a  man  repeat 
each  month  a  thousand  sacrifices,  and  go  on  enduring  his 
bodily  sufferings  without  ceasing,  this  is  not  equal  to  a 
moment's  undivided  attention  to  the  Law;  '-  or,  'the  sac- 
rificing to  spirits  in  order  to  find  peace,  or  expecting  re- 
ward after  this  life,  the  reward  for  this  is  not  one  quarter 
that  man's  who  pays  homage  to  the  good.'  ^     The  great 

1  Dhammapada,  p.  59.  2  ibid.,  p.  87.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  89. 


314  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

Unknown  God  is  to  be  worshipped  best  by  self-sacrifice  and 
love  to  all  mankind,  as  the  Lord  Buddha  has  taught  you. 
You  agree  with  him  that  the  crown  and  aim  of  human  life 
is  to  be  in  union  with  God ;  but  as  he  taught  the  pharisees 
of  old,  the  worshippers  of  the  Vedas  (Tevigga),  this  union 
is  only  possible  to  the  pure  and  loving  of  heart,  because,  as 
you  admit,  God  is  alone  perfectly  pure  and  loving.  How 
will  you  attain  this  purity?  Your  teacher  has  grandly  said, 
'  Not  in  the  void  of  heaven,  not  in  the  depths  of  the  sea, 
not  by  entering  the  rocky  clefts  of  the  mountain,  can  a 
man  escape  the  consequences. of  an  evil  deed;'  but  we 
offer  you  an  escape. 

"The  Lord  Buddha  has  also  taught  you  to  meditate  on 
love  to  all,  above  and  below,  to  those  here  and  those  far 
away,  now  and  forever,  and  that  thus  you  will  enter  into 
the  state  of  universal  charity  which  fits  you  for  union  with 
Brahma.  But  we  present  you  One,  the  Son  of  God,  the 
Incarnation  of  his  Spirit,  the  Embodiment  of  his  love,  who 
is  as  it  were  the  Elder  Brother  of  Buddha.  He  lived,  as 
Gotama  lived,  for  the  poor  and  outcast  and  sinful ;  for  all 
men.  He  did  more;  he  died  for  them.  He  taught  what 
your  prophet  taught,  but  in  simpler  and  more  vivid  way, — 
humility,  purity,  self-denial,  patience,  truthfulness,  love  for 
all  creatures,  now  and  evermore.  He  taught  higher  things  ; 
he  showed  all  men  that  God  was  a  Father,  and  he  made 
manifest  the  Eternal  Goodness.  He  gave  the  hope  that 
the  sin  which  seemed  to   your  pure  teacher  unforgivable 


CONVERSION  OF  NON-CHRISTIAN  NATIONS.      315 

and  unforgettable,  is,  through  the  Divine  Love  set  forth  in 
the  life  and  death  of  his  Son,  washed  away  and  utterly 
cleansed.  We  offer  you  a  Redeemer  higher  than  Kwan- 
Yin.  You  will  find  that  faith  in  him  and  love  for  him  will 
purify  }'ou  from  evil,  and  through  him  your  diseases  of 
soul  will  be  healed.  More  than  this:  He  offered  not 
alone  a  Nirvana  of  peace,  but  a  living  immortality  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father,  a  life  of  activity  and  blessedness  and 
purity,  forever  scattering  blessings  through  the  universe  of 
God.  His  great  servant,  Saint  Paul,  has  spoken  words  of 
the  heavenly  life,  which  we  offer  you,  —  words  such  as 
your  loving  saint  has  spoken  of  Nirvana:  'Eye  hath  not 
seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of 
man,  the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that 
love  him.'  ^ 

"  When  you  bring  your  beloved  ones  to  the  funeral  pyre 
or  the  open  grave,  you  can  only  look  forth  into  the  dark- 
ness and  say,  '  Perchance,  after  ages  of  transmigrations,  we 
shall  be  so  purified  that  we  may  be  deemed  worthy  to  be 
in  the  same  heaven  with  those  we  have  loved.  We  may 
there  be  permitted  even  to  look  upon  the  face  of  Buddha 
the  Blessed ;  but  all  is  uncertainty.  We  know  not  that 
memory  or  hope  or  love  will  survive  with  us.  We  know 
not  that  the  Best  of  all  human  beings  will  live  to  look  upon 
us  or  to  be  looked  upon  by  us.  We  only  know  that 
blessedness  comes  through  self-sacrifice  and  pain  and 
1  I  Corinthians  ii.  9. 


3l6  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

death.  Nirvana  may  be  joy;  it  may  be  nothingness.'  But 
we,  as  Christians,  in  the  name  of  our  Blessed  One,  offer 
you  assured  hope,  immortal  joy,  and  perfect  union  with 
the  Infinite  Father.  As  he  arose  from  the  dead,  so  shall 
you.     As  he  liveth,  so  will  you  live. 

"  It  is  true  our  Lord  does  not  offer  to  explain  the  origin 
of  evil,  but  neither  does  the  Lord  Buddha  succeed  in  doing 
this  by  means  of  the  baseless  theory  of  previous  existence. 
He  does  not  attempt  to  do  away  with  transmigration,  for 
there  is  no  evidence  of  its  reality.  He  only  offers  God  as 
love,  and  Christ  as  his  incarnate  Son,  and  eternal  hfe 
through  the  knowledge  of  and  faith  in  him.  This  is  the 
new  Dhamma,  or  Gospel,  we  offer;  the  fresh  Dhamma- 
pada,  or  Religion's  Path.  The  sight  of  and  love  for  this 
One,  higher  than  Buddha,  is  the  means  of  preparing  you 
for  union  with  the  true  Brahma,  or  God  the  Father. 

"  Had  Gotama,  the  Enlightened,  but  known  or  heard 
Jesus  Christ,  he  would  have  been  perhaps  the  highest 
of  his  followers.  In  heart  he  served  the  same  ideals, 
though  our  Lord  was  the  Son  of  God,  and  nearer  to  the 
Father. 

"  In  the  spirit  and  love  of  Buddha  we  offer  you  a  better 
Redeemer  than  Sakya  Muni,  even  the  Lord  Christ." 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

CONCLUSION. 

''  I  ^HE  long  search  sketched  in  this  vohimc  for  the  traces 
of  Divine  inspiration  previous  to  and  outside  of  Chris- 
tianity, in  human  history,  brings  with  it  a  great  reward. 
The  ways  of  God  to  men  appear  somewhat  justified.  The 
distant  past  is  not  alone  dark  with  superstition  and  idolatry 
and  bloody  rites  and  sensual  practices  under  the  name  of 
religion,  but  over  the  black  waves  is  a  long  pathway  of 
brilliancy  from  the  great  Pharos  of  the  ocean  of  human- 
ity,—  the  "  Light  which  lighteth  every  man,"  the  Spirit  of 
God.  Under  this  heavenly  glow  are  the  sweet  and  un- 
known virtues  and  sentiments  of  human  history;  the  little 
acts  of  disinterestedness,  the  pure  aspirations,  the  heroic 
deeds  of  quiet  life,  the  sweet  affections,  the  humble  prayers, 
the  unseen  patience  under  suffering,  the  faithfulness  which 
no  dangers  could  shake,  and  the  love  which  the  waters  of 
death  could  not  quench, —  all  that  is  best  in  human  life, 
and  which  no  historian  or  poet  has  ever  recorded.  All 
these  have  been  stimulated  among  the  non-Christian  races 
by  the  faith  in  the  Unknown  God,  and  union  with  him. 
Morality  has  received  its  greatest  impulse  from  religion. 


3l8  THE   UNKNOWN  GOD. 

"  Our  little  systems  have  their  day  ; 

They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be ; 
They  are  but  broken  ^lights  of  Thee, 
And  thou,  O  Lord,  art  more  than  they." 

Prayer. 
O  Thou  Unknown  God  !  No  powers  of  man  can  grasp  Thee  !  In 
Thy  fulness  thou  art  unknowable.  We  pass  away  ;  Thou  art  eternal. 
To  Thee  belongeth  not  time  or  space.  Thou  changest  not,  and  yet 
thy  being  is  full  of  eternal  waves  of  thought  and  feeling.  From  the 
nature  which  Thou  hast  given  us,  and  from  thy  universe,  we  know 
that  we  are  in  thy  image.  Thou  hast  revealed  thyself  in  Christ 
thy  Son.  As  he  is,  such  art  Thou.  We  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast 
also  made  Thyself  known  in  all  ages,  to  all  men,  of  every  race  and 
tribe.  We  bless  Thee  that  thy  creatures  in  ancient  days  have  seen 
thy  face.  We  thank  Thee  that  in  all  their  ignorance  and  animalism 
they  have  known  thy  loving-kindness,  which  is  better  than  life. 
We  thank  Thee  that  amid  impurity  they  have  felt  thy  purity ;  that 
where  so  much  was  selfish  around  them  they  have  seen  thy  un- 
changing beneficence.  They  have  only  known  Thee  in  part ;  but 
who  hath  known  Thee  wholly?  They  have  served  Thee  blindly  ; 
but  who  hath  seen  all  the  ways  of  the  Lord  J  They  have  given 
up  thought  and  heart  and  life  to  what  they  conceived  thy  will.  If 
they  have  erred,  who  of  us  is  free  from  error?  They  have  called 
Thee  by  various  names  ;  but  what  are  names  to  Thee  ?  We  thank 
Thee  that  Thou  hast  come  nearest  to  us  and  all  men  in  Jesus  Christ 
thy  Son.  In  him  we  know  Thee  as  Father.  In  him  we  see  thy 
face.  We  bless  Thee  that  he  is  leading  the  progress  of  mankind. 
We  cannot  conceive  a  higher  manifestation  of  Thyself.  But  if  it  be 
thy  will  that  he  "  come  again,''  and  we  receive  a  higJier  revelation, 
we  know  that  the  God  of  our  fathers  is  still  our  God  ;  that  the 
Spirit  made  manifest  to  Abraham  and  Moses,  and  appearing  to 
Egyptian  priests  and  Chaldean  shepherds,  to  Greek  believers  in 
Zeus  and  followers  of  Ahura  Mazda,  to  worshippers  of  Varuna  and 


CONCLUSION.  319 

disciples  of  Buddha,  and  incarnated  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  is  the  Spirit 
Eternal,  the  All- Father  who  belongeih  to  all  ages  and  races  and 
nations  of  men.  We  too,  O  Thou  llieos  Agnostos,  would  join  with 
feeble  voices  the  great  acclaim  of  praise  and  honor  and  glory 
which  ariseth  to  Thee  from  all  tribes  and  countries  of  men,  and 
would  humbly  offer  our  lives  in  service  to  Thee,  whom  we  shall 
\et  see  face  to  fece. 


APPENDIX. 


THE  UNKNOWN  GOD  AS  REVEALED  TO  THE  ANCIENT 
PERUVIANS, 

"  O  Pachamac,  thou  who  hast  existed  from  the  beginning  and 
shalt  exist  unto  the  end,  powerful  and  pitiful,  who  Greatest  man  by 
saying,  *  Let  man  be,'  who  defendest  us  from  evil  and  preservest 
our  life  and  health,  art  thou  in  the  sky  or  in  the  earth,  in  the 
clouds  or  in  the  depths?  Hear  the  voice  of  him  who  implores 
thee,  and  grant  him  his  petitions.  Give  us  Hfe  everlasting,  pre- 
serve us,  and  accept  this  our  sacrifice."  ^ 

'  Prayer  of  tlie  ancient  Peruvians,  preserved  by  De  Ore,  and 
quoted  by  Brinton  in  his  "  Myths  of  the  New  World,"  p.  29S  (earlier, 
1868,  edition),  who  accepts  it  as  undoubtedly  genuine. 


INDEX. 


Abbott's  Translation,  94. 

Abraham:  era,  5,  u,  66;  father  of 
monotheism,  52 ;  exodus,  55 ; 
prayer,  65;  call,  67;  influence,  72, 
73;  existence  denied,  75-77  5  i^^^- 
ily  idolatry  and  personal  inspira- 
tion, 173  ;  national  ideas,  174  ; 
historic  figure,  247. 

Acts,  Book  of,  quoted,  66,  92,  134, 

174.  301-303'  307,  3°^- 

/Eschines,  quoted,  91. 

^schylus,  quoted,  90,  91,  95-103. 

Africa,  310,  311. 

Ahriman  :  rank,  184-187  ;  in  diseases, 
1S5;  in  demons,  186;  in  lies,  185, 
187  ;  conquered,  188,  194,  195,  294. 
■Ahura  Mazda:  character,  183-187, 
293,  294;  light  and  truth,  1S7  ;  ob- 
scured, 1S8  ;  creator,  189  ;  con- 
queror, 189,  194;  converse  with  his 
prophet,  197.     (See  Ormazd.) 

Akkadian  People  :  name,  51  ;  origin, 
51,  52 ;  civilization,  52 ;  mixture 
with  Semitic  nations,  55  ;  brutality, 
67  ;  relation  to  Assyrians,  68  ;  dis- 
coveries, 72  ;  traditions  about  crea- 
tion, 75 ;  records,  76,  77  ;  cuneiform 
inscriptions,  17 1  ;  leaders,  174; 
ancient  faith  transmitted,  177. 

Akkadian  Religion  :  chapter,  51-77  ; 
ancient,  52;  seven  evil  spirits,  52, 
53;  invocations,  51-58,  61,  62; 
deities,  hymn  to  fire-god,  54;  He- 
brew resemblances,  55;  penitential 


psalms,  56,  57;  prayer  for  the  king, 
57 ;  for  the  soul,  58  ;  death,  59 ; 
sin,  59, 60 ;  mediator,  60-62 ;  psalms 
of  worship,  62-64,  66 ;  sun-god,  63, 
64,  69,  70  ;  original  sin,  64 ;  prayer 
to  the  God  of  Ur,  65;  sorrow,  66; 
human  sacrifice,  67  ;  chief  god,  68 ; 
prayer  to  Assur,  68,  69  ;  immortal- 
ity, 69 ;  Istar's  Descent,  69 ;  con- 
nection with  Jewish  history  and 
religion,  70;  revolt  in  heaven,  70, 
71  ;  monotheistic  inscription,  71  ; 
inspiration,  72,  174 ;  moon-god, 
73;  the  unknown  God,  74;  little 
known,  171  ;  two  strata,  172;  ele- 
mental worship,  173  ;  pantheism, 
174  ;  comparison  with  the  Bible, 
175 ;  elevation,  292. 

Alexandria  :    Hebrew   influences,  8  ; 
school  of  thought,  171. 

Amenti,  19,  22,  29,  30,  35,  42,  43- 

Ammon,  11-17. 

Amulets,  10,  30. 

Ananda,  277,  282,  283. 

Ancient    Monuments,   61,   62.     (See 
Sayce.) 

Angessi,  quoted,  32,  44,  48. 

Animal  Magnetism,  134. 

Animal  Worship,  in  Christian  Sym- 
bols, 6. 

Annihilation,  245.     (See  Nirvdua.) 

Apap,  20,  31,  35. 

Apostles :  monotheism,  7  ;  surround- 
ing influences,  301, 302.  (See  Paul.) 


324 


INDEX. 


Apothegms,  269. 

Apuleius,  quoted,  83,  84. 

Aramaic,  50. 

Aratus,  quoted  by  Paul,  93,  123,  305. 

Archaeology,  relation  to  religious 
study,  5,  6. 

Archilochus,  quoted,  90. 

Aristophanes,  quoted,  86. 

Aristotle,  quoted,  83,  93,  98,  loi,  10?. 

Art,  a  revealer  of  religion,  6. 

Aryan  Race  :  low  images  of  deity, 
1 1 ;  ideas  of  God,  292-294  ;  Hindu 
branch,  294,  295. 

Asceticism,  235,  253. 

Asha  :  defined,  183,  189;  law,  193. 

Asia  :  degraded  religion,  174  ;  spread 
of  Buddhism,  240;  Light  of,  244. 

Asoka,  King:  council,  245,  256;  in- 
scriptions, 247-249 ;  career,  247- 
251  ;  rock-edicts,  287-289. 

Assur,  68-71. 

Assyria:  kings,  52;  deities,  54,  58; 
Abraham,  77. 

Assyrian  People,  Semitic  origin,  172. 

Assyrian  Religion  :  mediator,  60 ; 
divine  light  and  truth,  63 ;  immor- 
tality, 69;  scriptures,  76;  a  chief 
god,  299. 

Atharva  Veda,  206,  210,  214. 

Atheists,  in  appearance,  127. 

Athenians,   golden    rule,    99.      (See 

^  Greek,  Paul.) 

Atman,  236,  239,  253,  25S,  259,  297. 

Augustine :  on  Jove,  104,  105 ;  in- 
debtedness to  Stoics,  163,  164;  on 
deity,  232  ;  on  basis  of  Christian- 
ity, 307- 

Aurelius,  Marcus:  among  the  Stoics, 
125;  imperial  saint,  128;  on  Chris- 
tian obstinacy,  136;  maxims,  143; 
writings,  152-160;  right  living, 
152;  harmony  with  nature,  152, 
157  ;  manhood,  political  ideals, 
quick-passing  opportunity,  153  ; 
readiness  for  death,  154,  158;  char- 
ity of  opinion,  city  of   Zeus,   154; 


day  of  death,  simple  prayer,  con- 
tentment, transitoriness  of  life, 
155;  Stoic's  view  of  the  universe, 
self-questioning,  156;  happy  death. 
Stoic's  prayer,  157;  destiny,  ac- 
cording to  nature,  self-respect,  158; 
man  wcrthy  of  the  universe,  deiiy, 
future  life,  159;  all  the  gift  of  God, 
eternity,  life  a  drama,  160;  appe;  , 
to  Epictetus,  161  ;  vague  hope. 
165. 


Baal,  names,  61. 

Babylonia:  race,  51;  long  history, 
76;  Abraham,  175. 

Babylon,  name,  68. 

Babylonian  Religion,  not  enduring, 
170.     (See  Akkadian.) 

Baptism,  Greek,  85. 

Baur's  Works,  quoted,  134. 

Beal's  Catena,  237,  265,  271,  276, 
277,  2S4-287. 

Beatitudes,  269. 

Beauty,  eternal,  114. 

Bhagavad-Gita,  198,  20S,  212,  213, 
217-220.     {'itt  Rigzx\di  Vedas.) 

Bible  :  phrases  in  Seneca,  135  ;  liter- 
ary superiority,  175;  honesty,  176; 
comparison  with  heathen  worship, 
299-30S  ;  inspiration  of  false  gods, 
299 ;  true  light,  300,  301  ;  Stoics 
and  apostles,  301-304  ;  Paul,  304- 
30S  ;  Romans,  305,  306  ;  sins,  307, 
30S.  (See  Acts,  Old  Teslamoit, 
A'ew  Testament,  Paul,  etc  ) 

Biblical  Archjeology,  54,  69,  71. 

Birch,  Samuel,  quoted,  16,  24. 

Boissier's  Works,  134. 

Bonzyges,  99. 

Book  of  the  Dead:  9,  11,  14,  17,  20- 
37;  described,  19,  40. 

Book  of  Origins,  75-77. 

Bossuet's  Works,  125. 

Boston  Art  Museum,  12. 

Boulaq  Museum,  13,  20. 


INDEX. 


325 


Brahma:  nature,  212,  217,  21S,  221  ; 
repose,  225 ;  union  with,  236,  27S, 
279  ;  superior  god,  244  ;  true  fol- 
lowers, 260  ;  preferred,  310 ;  incar- 
nation, 312. 

Brahmanism :  pantheistic,  199,  200; 
questions,  200  ;  wild  fancies,  244  ; 
Pharisees,  279. 

Breaths  of  Life,  quoted,  30. 

Bridge's  Babylonian  Life,  59,  60,  65, 
66,  69,  70,  76. 

Brinton's  Works,  321. 

Brotherhood  of  Gotama,  253. 

Brugsch,  on  Egypt,  9-12,  15,  16,  18, 
40. 

Buddha:  teachings,  210,  255,  260,  261; 
statue,  224,  267  ;  parables,  225,  26S, 
269;  often  misrepresented,  birth, 
226;  conversion,  sculptures,  227; 
the  Enlightened  One,  partial  truths, 
22S;  legends,  22S,  229;  unselfish- 
ness, 228,  232;  cradle,  229;  value 
of  life,  229,  250;  almost  Christian, 
230,  239 ;  saint,  232 ;  name,  233, 
274,  275;  next  to  Jesus,  238,  257; 
church,  239 ;  achievements,  243  ; 
deification,  words  preserved,  245; 
moral  nature,  247  ;  death,  255,  2S1- 
284 ;  sun-myth,  256,  257 ;  ancient 
sermons,  257,  281 ;  five  great  com- 
mands, 260  ;  true  disciples,  273  ; 
mission,  helpfulness,  275;  relation 
to  Confucius,  276;  universal  body, 
277 ;  aid  to  outcast  women,  277 ; 
first  sermon,  278;  eight  divisions, 
278,  279;  Socratic  method,  280; 
preferred,  310;  best  truths,  313; 
something  better,  313-316. 

Buddhism:  chapter,  224-254;  wide- 
spread, 224,  240,  249 ;  formalism, 
225;  compassion,  227;  idea  of 
heaven,  228;  in  China,  230,  277; 
stories,  231  ;  poetic  mystics,  232- 
234;  divine  personality,  234,235; 
future  life,  235,  236;  defects,  237- 
239;    asceticism,    239,    240;    tem- 


perance, 240,  241 ;  sexual  purity, 
241,  242;  superstition,  242;  re- 
forms, 242-244;  not  wholly  false, 
three  schools,  244  ;  underlying  be- 
liefs, 245 ;  early  converts,  247  ; 
triad,  edicts,  248;  liberality,  249; 
worship  and  sacrifice,  249,  250; 
humanity,  250,  251 ;  decay,  close, 
resemblances  to  Christianity,  251  ; 
ceremonies,  252 ;  variations  from 
Christianity,  253;  peace,  253,  254; 
steps  of  progress,  290-293  ;  myth- 
making,  intuition,  291  ;  moral  ele- 
ments, 297,  29S  ;  temporary,  298 ; 
amazing  conquests,  312. 

Buddhist  Writings:  sacred,  246; 
Asoka's  teachings,  24S-250;  chap- 
ter, 255-289;  canon,  255,  259; 
value,  256;  legendary  centre,  256, 
257;  unlike  the  Bible,  257,  258; 
great  truths,  258 ;  degeneration, 
258,  259;  famous  verse,  259;  Nir- 
vana, 259,  260,  271-274,  297;  mor- 
als, 260;  thought,  impurity,  pil- 
grimage of  beings,  261 ;  spiritual 
worship,  261,262;  destiny,  happi- 
ness of  believers,  262  ;  earnestness, 
262,  263;  pleasure,  263;  saints' 
life,  good  fortune,  264 ;  selfish  good, 
faith,  four  great  truths,  265;  Su- 
tras, 265-267 ;  charity,  and  good 
for  evil,  266;  benevolent  king, 
goodness  and  spiritual  power, 
267;  golden  rules,  267,  268;  self- 
conquest,  the  world,  268;  parable, 
268,  269;  apothegms,  269;  beati- 
tudes, 269,  270;  riches,  270;  true 
treasures,  270,  271 ;  true  disciple, 
273,  274 ;  modern  liturgy,  284-289 ; 
chant,  284,  2S5;  confession,  286, 
2S7 ;  earliest  texts,  rock-edicts, 
287-289;  tolerance,  288. 

Buddhists:  literature,  217  ;  numbers, 
224 ;  formalism,  225  ;  hope  in  death, 
231;  councils,  255,  256;  spelling 
of  words,  256;  southern,   256;  re- 


326  INDEX. 


lation  to  apostles,   301 ;  supposed 
sermon  to,  313-316. 
Burnouf's  Works,  227,  235,  274,  288. 


CAESAR,  247. 

Callimachus,  81. 

Canaan:  invaded,  66;  Abraham's 
occupancy,  77. 

Capital  Punishment,  abolished,  249. 

Carter's  Version,  144. 

Caste,  242,  243. 

Cave-dwellers,  2. 

Ceylon:  religion,  240,  248;  slavery, 
242;  caste,  243;  humanity,  251; 
missionaries,  313. 

Chabas,  translations  by,  13, 19,  38,40. 

Chaldea:  magic,  52;  Jews,  55,  191; 
Story,  63 ;  bricks,  66  ;  bloody  rec- 
ords, 67;  invasion,  76.  (See  Ak- 
kadian. ) 

Chaldean  Religion  :  Ur,  64 ;  ancient 
monotheism,  71  ;  immortality,  85; 
source,  106;  sacred  books,  175; 
charitable  king,  267  ;  charity,  192, 
239,  266. 

Charlemagne,  247. 

Chastisement,  value  of,  137. 

Chatterie's  Translations,  219. 

Chedorlaomer,  66,  76. 

Childers's  Dictionary,  233. 

China  :  religion,  224,  240 ;  defective 
ideas,  226;  arts,  240;  lost  women, 
243 ;  children  neglected,  242 ;  for- 
malism, 243  ;  Nestorian  influence, 
252,  287;  pilgrims,  265;  scrip- 
tures, 271 ;  great  traveller  in,  275  ; 
missionaries,  312,  313. 

Christendom:  sexual  impurity,  241, 
242;  divisions,  310,  311. 

Christian  Church,  legends,  178. 

Christianity  :  suppositional  picture  of 
its  end,  5,  6;  unfairly  judged,  68, 
74;  Abrahamic  influence,  75; 
church  mysteries,  78,  85;  relation 
to  rationalists,  108;  moral  heights, 


116, 117  ;  pre-Christian  revelations, 
119;  similar  ideas  elsewhere  found, 
133;  contact  with  Seneca,  134;  not 
grasped  by  scholars,  135  ;  indebt- 
edness to  Stoicism,  163-166;  per- 
manence, 170;  qualities,  170,  171; 
errors,  173;  Hindu  ideas,  218; 
nearness  to  Buddhism,  229,  251, 
253;  bad  effects,  242;  seeds  of 
progress,  243 ;  Judaic  background, 
244;  mysticism,  245  ;  better  results, 
246;  spread,  251;  truths  old  as 
mankind,  307;  progress,  309-313; 
fewer  obstacles,  309. 

Christians  :  called  Atheists,  127  ;  held 
in  contempt,  136 ;  fearlessness,  165  ; 
numbers,  224 ;  ascetic  errors,  239, 
240;  bad  characters,  309,  310; 
homes,  310. 

Christmas  Chant,  7. 

Chrysostom,  122. 

Chunder  Sen,  lecture,  310. 

Cicero,  quoted,  83,  84,  102,  127,  131, 
132,  163,  164. 

Cleanthes :  quoted,  81, 90 ;  verse,  120 ; 
hymn,  123,  124  ;  cited  by  Paul,  305. 

Clemens  of  Alexandria  :  quoted,  82, 
83,  85,  90,  92  ;  a  mystic,  232. 

Colebrooke's  Translations,  208. 

Comforter,  the,  302. 

Confucius:  followers,  224;  relation 
to  Buddhism,  276  ;  preferred,  310. 

Conscience,  after  death,  192. 

Constantine,  247. 

Contentment,  155. 

Cosmogony,  verse,  209. 

Croswell's  Translations,  81,  123. 

Cyril,  quoted,  82. 

Cyrus,  reign  of,  61.  62. 


Dante,  69. 
Darius,  189. 
Darmesteter,  on  Persian  religion,  183, 

186,  18S,  189,  192. 
David's  Psalms,  55,  66,  123,  176, 


INDEX. 


zv 


Davids,  Rhys,  on  Buddhism,  224, 
237,  24S,  271,  273,  274,  27S-2S0, 
283,  284. 

Day  of  Account  of  Words,  27-29. 

Deacon,  definition,  132. 

Death :  psahns,  5S-60 ;  Plato  and 
Socrates,  117;  Seneca's  view,  140- 
142;  readiness  for,  154,  15S;  day 
of,  155;  happy,  157;  Christian 
view,  164-166;  with  conscience 
personified,  192, 193;  of  the  wicked, 
193;  prayer  for  the  dying,  213- 
215;  leader,  215,  216;  Buddhist 
view,  231,  275,  282-286. 

Decalogue,  45,  46,  50. 

De  Horrack,  on  Egypt,  30. 

Delhi  Pillar,  250,  28S. 

Delitzch,  on  the  Akkadians,  51. 

Demons,  1S6.    (See  Akiiman.) 

Dendera  Temple,  11,  18. 

Denis's  History  of  Moral  Ideas, 
103. 

De  Rouge,  on  Egypt,  10,  20,  29,  40. 

Destiny,  15S,  262. 

Deveria,  on  Egypt,  25,  32,  33. 

Dhammapada,  226,  228,  230,  239, 
243.  245,  250,  255-274,  312,  313, 
316;  Chinese,  265. 

Dillman,  Dr.,  quoted,  70. 

Diodorus :  on  Egypt,  7  ;  Mysteries, 
80,  85. 

Diogenes  Laertius,  130,  162. 

Dio  Chrysostom,  94. 

Disease,  attributed  to  Satan,  185. 
(See  A/irifnan.) 

Dollinger,  on  the  Mysteries,  85. 

Dourif,  on  Stoicism,  134. 

Drug,  or  Satan,  189,  195. 

Duality,  190.     (See  Zoroastrianism.) 

Duncker,  on  the  Persian  faith,  1S9. 

Dyer's  Translation,  53. 


Earnestness,  262,  263. 
Ecclesiastes,  Book  of,  43,  44. 
Edfu  Temple,  18. 


Edkins's  Translations,  224,  230,  276. 

Egypt :  oldest  civilization,  symbol- 
ism, 5  ;  historians,  7,  8;  buildings, 
11;  Denkmaler,  17,  19;  borders, 
77  ;  inscriptions,  209. 

Egyptian  People  :  kings,  21,  40 ; 
confusion  of  persons  in  history, 
32  ;  relation  to  Jews,  41-50  ;  cul- 
tivation, 41,  42  ;  caste,  43  ;  gar- 
ments, 44;  intellectual  superiority, 
168. 

Egyptian  Religion  :  monotheistic,  i- 
40 ;  temple  inscriptions,  i,  5 ; 
misunderstood,  6;  better  known 
to-day,  8;  unseen  God,  8-10; 
spiritual  rise,  11;  deities,  11-17, 
68;  intuition,  triad  of  deities,  12; 
resume  of  belief,  17  ;  dearest 
deity,  19,  20,  26 ;  priests,  22 ; 
love,  23;  Anubis,  27;  Day  of 
Account,  27-29 ;  bodily  resurrec- 
tion, 29,  30 ;  pictures  of  the  un- 
seen, 37-39  ;  highest  point,  38,  50; 
prophecy  of  light,  40 ;  elevated 
conceptions,  40,  89  ;  emblems,  42  ; 
secrecy,  44,  49;  decadence,  46, 
47;  wide-spread,  immortality,  49; 
priestly  mysteries,  79,  80,  85 ; 
goddess,  litanies,  84 ;  oracles, 
106;  excelled,  116;  relation  to 
Moses,  171  ;  barren  results,  170; 
faults,  sacred  literature,  175  ;  al- 
most absolute,  292  ;  influencing 
the  apostles,  301. 

El,  68. 

Elamite  Invasion,  66,  76. 

Eleusinian  Mysteries,  80-83.  (^^^ 
Mysteries.) 

English  People  :  their  deity,  74 ; 
poetry,  74,  75 ;  Puritan  element, 
76,  77.    (See  British  Empire.) 

Ennius,  104. 

Enoch,  death  of,  48. 

Epictetus  :  views,  124,  165  ;  Stoi- 
cism, 125,  132;  divine  love,  128, 
129,   130;  Jews  called  Christians, 


328 


INDEX. 


136;  physique,  maxims,  143;  writ- 
ings, 144-151  ;  lite,  161. 

Esne  Temple,  16. 

Essenism,  252. 

Eternity,  160. 

Euripides,  quoted,  97-100. 

Eusebius,  quoted,  80,  82,  84,  loi. 

Evil :  origin  of,  187  ;  endless  conse- 
quences, 296.     (See  Sin.) 

Ewald,  75. 


Faith  :  power  and  perseverance, 
169;  Buddhist,  265. 

Fatherhood  of  God :  not  always  dis- 
covered, 167  ;  wanting  in  Buddh- 
ism, 259,  260.     (See  God.) 

Fire-god,  hymn,  54.     (See  Sun-god.) 

Flint  Age,  2. 

Flood,  5,  70. 

Freedom,  in  Stoicism,  151. 

Future  Existence:  punishment,  31; 
idea  of  Stoics,  159,  160;  inevi- 
table conclusion,  169 ;  Buddhist 
idea,  230,  235,  253;  not  taught 
by  Confucius,  276.  (See  Immor- 
tality.) 


Gallio,  134. 

Genesis,  Book  of  :  Jehovah,  50 ; 
Agade,  51  ;  Elam,  66,  73 ;  Abra- 
ham, 75-77.    (See  Book  of  Origins.) 

God :  Egyptian  idea,  1-50 ;  moral 
action,  I  ;  one  will,  2,  148 ;  one 
power,  4;  flowing  locks,  6;  plu- 
rality of  gods,  6,  7 ;  unseen  in 
stars,  8,  9  ;  high  spiritual  images, 
II;  behind  all  forces,  12;  life 
and  truth,  14;  creator,  15,  25, 
149,  193,  194,  259;  weaver,  15; 
Babylonian  idea,  51-77  ;  purity, 
67  ;  names,  68,  207,  208  ;  national 
limitation,  74 ;  mysteries,  80-82. 
Greek  idea,  78-105  (see  Zens)  ; 
Socrates  and   Plato,   106-119;   as 


love,  106,  298,  302  ;  impartation  ol 
moral  life,  108.  Platonic  idea, 
no- 1 1 3,  117;  idea  of  Stoics,  120- 
181;  pattern  for  imitation,  121; 
beyond  evil,  122  ;  within,  127  ; 
habitation  in  virtue,  130 ;  moral 
governor,  136-138;  profound  be- 
lief in,  143;  son  of,  144;  master, 
145,  151  ;  fatherhood  {q.  v.),  146, 
149;  to  be  praised,  146;  union 
with,  147,  194;  friend,  150;  uni- 
versal source,  160  ;  far  away,  162  ; 
of  Stoicism,  166;  righteousness, 
168;  spiritual  personality,  173, 
233-236;  self-existent,  179;  like 
his  universe,  181.  Persian  idea, 
182-197  (see  Zoroastriaiiism);  gar- 
ment, 194;  Om,  20S.  Hindu  idea, 
198-223;  supremacy,  216  i  known 
and  unknown,  219,  303,  304  ;  great 
soul,  220;  defined,  221.  Buddhist 
ideas,  224-289;  uncreated,  260. 
Chinese  idea,  2S5 ;  primitive  no- 
tions, 290,  291 ;  intuitively  known, 
291.  (See  Ahum  Mazda,  Brahnia, 
Jahveh.) 

Golden  Rules,  267,  268. 

Good  for  Evil,  266. 

Good  Fortune,  264. 

Goodness,  217,  266. 

Grassman's  Translation,  207,  214. 

Grebaut's  Translation,  13. 

Greece:  remote  from  Egvpt,  5,  8; 
great  thinkers,  107;  Stoics  (^.  7/.), 
125;  traditions  about  deity,  292; 
belief  in  God,  294. 

Greek  Mysteries  :  chapter,  75-S9 ; 
great  gift,  78 ;  difficult  to  under- 
stand, 79 ;  symbolic  and  dramatic 
scenes,  79,  80,  84 ;  hymns,  80-82  ; 
darkness,  80 ;  humanizing  effect, 
uncertain  testimony,  83 ;  relation 
to  Hebrew  views,  84,  85;  sacred 
truths,  85  ;  rules,  86  ;  divine  ideal, 
87,  88;  contemned,  88,  89  ;  misun- 
derstood, degenerate,  89 ;  enduring 


INDEX. 


329 


influence,    171  ;    national    source, 

177- 

Greek  Religion:  origin,  106,  171  ; 
ideas  of  deity,  106;  Socrates  and 
Plato,  loS  ;  superior  to  Egyptian, 
116;  not  permanent,  170;  divine 
confidence,  177-180.  (See  Plato, 
Socrates,  Stoicism,  Zeus.) 

Greeks  :  as  religious  historians,  5,  6  ; 
errors  about  Egyptian  worship,  22  ; 
beauty,  72  ;  poetry,  74,  94  ;  ancient 
beliefs,  90;  moral  power  of  art,  93; 
Bonzyges,  99;  pantheism,  161  ;  in- 
tellectual superiority,  16S;  habits, 
177  ;  apostolic  indebtedness,  306. 


Hades,  20,  23,  ^t,,  35,  36,  69,  79,  87- 

89,  107. 
Halevy,  J.,  51. 

Happiness  of  Believers,  262,  263. 
Harris's  Translations,  13,  14. 
Heaven  :  in  pictures,  7  ;  entrance,  36, 

37;    described,  37,  38;  revolt,  70, 

71;  Zoroastrian,  183,  184;  Hindu, 

210-212. 
Hebrew  Poetry,  191.  (See  David.) 
Heliopolis,  19. 

Hell,  183,  184.     (See  Hades.) 
Heraclitus,  99. 
Hercules,  99. 
Hermes,  Vision  of,  226. 
Herodotus,  5,  7,  8,  188. 
Hesiod,  92,  93,  178. 
Hesychus,  99. 
Hibbert's  Lectures,  54,  65. 
Higginson's  Revision,  144. 
Hindu    People :    before   the   advent 

of  Buddhism,  236;  Aryan  branch, 

294,  295.  _  _ 
Hindu  Religion :   powers  of  nature, 

19S ;    moral    questions,    199,    221  ; 

one  deity  or  many,  200,  207,  208; 

origin   of   evil,    201  ;   hymns,   201, 

205-210  ;    morality,  202,  223,  296 ; 

divine  absorption,  203 ;  soul  of  na- 


ture, 204 ;  three  gods,  20S ;  cos- 
mogony, 209  ;  heaven,  210-212  ; 
prayer  and  death,  213-216;  su- 
preme spirit,  216;  lord  of  right- 
eousness, 217  ;  goodness,  217-219; 
redemption,  218  ;  worship,  219  ; 
soul,  220;  speculations,  222;  my- 
thology, 223 ;  containing  Buddhism, 

'  224,  225;  degeneracy,  225;  defec- 
tive ideas,  226,  227  ;  re-birth,  227, 
297 ;  pantheism,  295. 

Holy  Spirit :  struggling  with  soul, 
107  ;  view  of  Seneca,  135 ;  not  in 
Stoicism,  161. 

Homer,  92,  100,  102,  17S. 

Hommcl,  on  Semitic  Races,  66,  75. 

Hue,  Father,  252. 


Ilon,  67-69,  71. 

Immortality :  Egyptian  view,  8,  17, 
27,  28,  106  ;  earliest  belief,  80,  85, 
Sj,  89;  Plato  and  Socrates,  113- 
115;  sure,  118.  (See  Future  Life, 
Heaven,  Hell.) 

Impurity,  261.     (See  Piirity.) 

Increaser,  the,  1S6,  194. 

Independence,  144. 

Indra,  92. 

Iranians  :  view  of  universe,  182,  183  ; 
of  deity,  183,  184,  294;  literature, 
175.     (See  Zoroastrianism.) 

Isaiah,  43,  62,  70,  176,  261. 

Isis:  temple,  i,  45;  amulet,  10;  and 
Osiris,  10,  21,  23,  87  ;  faith,  86. 

Isocrates,  78,  99,  loi. 

Istar,   53,    56,    59,    ()i,   64,   66,    69, 


Jaiiveh:  name  defined,  12,  41-50; 
revered,  46;  faith  in,  47,  48,177; 
righteousness,  48,  176;  allusions, 
55,  62,  64  ;  national  deity,  74,  244, 
300 ;  resemblance  to  Zeus,  90,  91 ; 
Psalmist's    feeling,    123;     nature, 


330 


INDEX. 


i68;  subordinate  powers,  174; 
commands,  308. 

Jama:  allusions,  207,  210;  hymn, 
215;  leader,  215,  216;  King  of 
Death,  261. 

James  the  Apostle,  9. 

Japan,  missionaries,  312,  313. 

Jesus  Christ :  biographical  facts  not 
in  ancient  histories,  6  ;  myths  and 
traditions,  7 ;  texts,  resemblance 
to  Osiris,  27  ;  era,  56;  profile, 
94;  Gospel  of  the  Infancy,  226; 
mystical  truth,  232 ;  nearness  to 
Buddha,  238,  239,  314;  message 
from  God,  243 ;  perfect  inspiration, 
254;  Samaritan  woman,  254;  say- 
ings contrasted  with  Buddha's, 
257;  elder  brother,  314-316.  (See 
Increaser,  Messiah,  Osiris.) 

Jewish  People :  relation  to  Egyp- 
tians, 8,  41-50,  171;  Platonized, 
8  ;  leaders,  44,  45,  72 ;  profound 
faith,  47-49;  general  influences, 
50 ;  Semitic  origin,  54 ;  human 
sacrifices,  67 ;  progenitors  hon- 
ored, -jT,;  annals  filled  out,  76; 
identified  with  Christians,  136; 
superior  inspiration  and  inferior 
intelligence,  16S ;  grand  ideas  in 
history,  173;  agriculturists,  great 
words,  175;  hopes  of  redemption, 
179;  Persian  contact,  190;  rela- 
tion to  deity,  299;  ancient  training, 
307  ;  defects,  307,  308. 

Jewish  Religion  :  names  of  deity,  11, 
12;  priestly  dress,  44;  immortal- 
ity, 48,  58 ;  sources,  52  ;  sense  of 
sin,  64;  psalms,  66,  75,  174;  sac- 
rifices, 67  ;  superiority,  70,  197  ; 
supposed  late  monotheism,  73,  74  ; 
Abrahamic  traditions,  75 ;  influ- 
ence of  Egyptian  rites,  84 ;  solemn 
figure,  90;  fountain  of  faith,  172; 
permanence,  170,  17$  ;  inspiration, 
174,  176  ;  nearness  to  Buddhism, 
224;    background    for     Christian- 


ity, 244;  highest,  292;  survival, 
294. 

Job,  30,  32,  34,  48,  173,  176. 

John  of  Damascus,  232. 

John's  Epistles,  307. 

John's  Gospel :  logos,  10 ;  Alexan- 
drian thought,  171  ;  God  and 
Christ,  178;  mysticism,  232; 
teachings,   300,   302. 

John  the  Baptist,  festival,  7. 

Josephus,  84. 

Joshua,  55,  56. 

Jove,  103-105. 

Jowett's  Translations,  114. 

Jude,  70. 

Judgment:  Egyptian  view,  8,  27-29, 
37,  39.  43.  106;  day,  169. 

Judith,  Book  of,  55. 

Jupiter,  102,  104. 

Justification,  10. 

Justin  Martyr  :  quoted,  10,  82,  100  ; 
mysticism,  232. 


Karma,  243,  246,  258,  259. 

Kellogg,  on  Light  of  Asia,  244,  246. 

Keph,  12. 

Kerneter,  or  Hades,  20. 

Kronios,  81. 

Kuenen's  Objections,  73,  75. 

Kwan-Yin,  2S5,  287,  315. 


LAFF.RRifeRE,  on  the  Stoics,  131. 
Latin    Race :    poetry,    74 ;    religion, 

103,  104;  idea  of  deity,  292.    (See 

I^o??taii.) 
Lenormant,   on    Akkadians,   60,   61, 

68. 
Leonowens,  Mrs.,  239. 
Life  :  transitory,   155,  264  ;  a  drama, 

160;  right,  152. 
Lillie's  Buddhism,  227,  244,  246,  249, 

250,  287. 
Livingstone's  Travels,  "^ii. 
Logos,  27,  III.     (See   T/ioth,  HWd.) 


INDEX. 


331 


Longs  Version,  152. 

Louvre  Manuscripts,  25,  32,  33. 

Love  :  in  religion,  23  ;  divine  nature, 

225,  298,  302.    (See  God.) 
Lucan,  the   poet   of   Stoicism,    130, 

164 
Luke's  Gospel,  308. 
Lyon,  on  the  Akkadians,  51. 


Magi,  1S8. 

Magic,  52,  65. 

Maha-bharata,  210-225,  268. 

Manhood,  153. 

Marco  Polo,  230. 

Mariette,  on  Egypt,  20,  z\,  24,  25. 

Marriage,  242. 

Martyr,  defined,  132. 

Mason's,  Miss,  Translation,  115. 

Maspero's  Writings,  40. 

Matthew's  Gospel,  308. 

Maury,  on  Zeus,  99. 

Maximus  Tyrius,  91. 

Maya,  2S2. 

Mediator,  60,  61.    (See  Jesus.) 

Memphis,  inscriptions,  12,  19. 

Menander,  100,  loi. 

Mercy,  138,  224,  227,  276. 

Merodach,  60-62,  299. 

Messiah,  expected,  169. 

Messiahship,  179.    (See  Jesus.) 

Metempsychosis,  83,  88. 

Meyer,  E.,  quoted,  11,  30,  76. 

Micah's  Prophecy,  299,  300. 

Middle  Ages,  233,  241. 

Milton,  John,  71. 

Mind,  personified,  in. 

Miramar,  on  Egypt,  35. 

Missionaries,  313-316. 

Monotheism:  Egyptian,  i-^passim; 
highest  point,  38  ;  elevated,  40;  in 
Judaism,  45,  16S  ;  the  father  of,  52  ; 
late,  T2i'  74!  early,  75;  in  Greek 
Mysteries,  85,89;  among  the  Sto- 
ics, 125;  general  yet  narrow,  173; 
line  of  great  teachers,  173;  indis- 


tinct, 174;  in  Hinduism,  19S,  200, 
207,  20S;  degraded,  225.  (See 
Goii.) 

Moon-god,  59,  69,  73,  76. 

Morals,  obscurity,  tradition  of  a  great 
benefactor,  3. 

Morcll's  definition,  300. 

Mormonism,  135. 

Moses:  era,  5,  n,  40;  influenced  by 
Egypt,  43-45,  171  ;  idea  of  deity, 
46;  sublime  conviction,  50;  wide 
influence,  72,  73;  Pentateuch,  76; 
law,  308. 

Mosheim's  History,  252,  287. 

Muir's  Sanskrit  Texts,  204,  20S,  212, 
214. 

Miiller,  Max  :  on  Hinduism,  205,  208 ; 
on  Buddhism,  226,  228,  245,  255, 
256. 

Musa^us,  88. 

Mysteries:  behind  things  seen,  2  ;  of 
universe,  4;  Egyptian,  8,  79;  wor- 
ship, 304.     (See  Greek.) 

Mystery  Plays,  79. 

Mysticism,  232-236. 

Myth-making,  178,  179. 

Mythology :  Jahveh  independent  of, 
46;  taking  possession  of  religion, 
107;  along  the  Euphrates,  173; 
coexistent  with  high  spirituality, 
178. 


Nature:  deity  unseen  in,  8,  9;  har- 
mony with,  152,  157,  158;  the  all- 
giver,  158;  religion  of,  172;  influ- 
encing Zoroastrianism,  1S2,  183; 
Hinduism,  19S;  Hebraism,  301. 

Nestorian  Religion,  252,  287. 

New  Testament,  relation  to  other  re- 
ligions, 300.  (See  Btl/le,  Jesus, 
John,  Paul.) 

Nirvana:  explained,  212,  227-229, 
234-240,  25S,  259,  271-277,  281,  283, 
285,  297,  315;  omitted  in  Asoka 
records,  248. 


332 


INDEX. 


Nirvanapura,  246. 

Non-Christian  Nations:  how  to  be 
converted,  309-316;  progress  of 
Christianity,  309;  greatest  obstacle, 
309,310;  influence  of  homes,  31c, 
311;  divisions  among  Christians, 
311;  character  of  missionaries,  311, 
312;  future  conquests,  312;  ser- 
mon to  Buddhists,  313-316. 

Novatus,  134. 


Oldenberg's   Translations,   225, 

233,  236,  256,  260-263,  271,  275, 

282,  283. 
Old  Testament,  connection  with  other 

religions,  299.     (See  Bible,  David, 

Isaiah,  Job.) 
Opinions,     charity     for     erroneous, 

154- 

Opportunity,  quick-passing,  153. 

Orelli,  104,  105. 

Oriental  Races  :  magic,  52  ;  the  num- 
ber seven,  53.  (See  China,  Hindu, 
Persia.) 

Original  Sin,  64.  (See  Ahriman, 
Evil,  Sin. ) 

Ormazd,  183.     (See  Ahura  Mazda.) 

Orpheus,  10,  88. 

Orphic  Mysteries,  79-Si ;  hymns,  81, 
82,  178. 

Osiris :  legend,  7  ;  definition,  12  ;  part 
of  one  deity,  15;  deification,  18; 
chapter,  19-40;  dear  to  Egypt,  19; 
qualities,  19,  20;  prowess,  20;  spe- 
cial name,  20,  24,  25;  mythical  birth, 
21;  national  service,  21,  22;  mys- 
teries, 22,  23  ;  embodiment  of  love, 
23;  sufferings  and  death,  23,  24; 
liturgies,  24-26,  33 ;  union  with 
soul,  26;  day  of  judgment,  27-29; 
resurrection,  29-33  ;  judge,  32,  39, 
50;  spiritual  body,  33-35;  future 
life,  35-38  ;  father,  35 ;  guardian, 
36;  offspring  of  deity,  39;  for- 
gotten, 170;   defects  of  this  cult. 


171;  compassion,  239;  relation  to 
apostles,  301. 
Ounnofer,  20,  24,  25. 


Pantheism,  161,  170,  174,  199,  200, 
222,  295. 

Papyrus  of  the  Dead,  18.    (See  Book.) 

Parsees,  1S9,  191.     (See  Persia.) 

Paul:  mysteries,  78;  citations  from 
Greek  writers,  93,  123,  129;  ur 
known  god,  103 ;  relation  to  Sen 
eca,  133,  134;  theology,  178;  mys 
ticism,  232  ;  charity,  239;  Buddhist 
words,  252 ;  preaching  in  Athens, 
302-304,312;  method  of  reasoning, 
304-306;  supposed  quotation  by 
missionary,  315. 

Paul's  Epistles,  305-307,  315. 

Pausanias,  92,  102. 

Pelasgians,  178. 

Pentateuch,  76.     (See  Moses.) 

Persia :  conqueror,  62 ;  messianic 
hope,  179;  religion,  188,  294.  (See 
Parsees,  Zoroastrianism.) 

Personality  of  God:  Oriental  idea, 
199,  233-235  ;  apparently  excluded, 
245,  246.     (See  God.) 

Peruvian  Religion,  321. 

Pessimism,  296. 

Pharisees,  279,  280,  314. 

Phidias,  93,  94. 

Phocion,  159. 

Phoenicians,  16S. 

Phonograph,  74. 

Pierret's  Pantheon,  19,  31,  40. 

Piety,  of  the  Stoics,  150,  151. 

Pilgrimage  of  Beings,  261. 

Pindar,  83,  91,  100,  loi. 

Plato:  Egyptian  influences,  8,  171: 
on  beauty,  72,  82;  Phasdo,  82; 
Greek  Mysteries,  88,  89;  Zeus,  91, 
98-102;  religion,  106-119, 179,  180; 
motto,  106;  ideas,  107;  breadth, 
108;  not  a  theologian,  no;  nor  a 
pantheist,  in;  moral  conclusions, 


INDEX. 


333 


113-115;  inferences,  117;  immor- 
tality, iiS;  sin,  119;  basis  of  faith, 
121  ;  ante-Christian  churches,  177; 
messianic  hope,  179,  iSo;  dreams, 
I  So. 

Pleasure,  263. 

Pliny,  105. 

Plutarch:  on  Egypt,  5,  7,  8,  10,  2t, 
23,  171  ;  Greek  Mysteries,  78,  86- 
89;  crime,  162. 

'luto,  22. 

'oetry,  preserved,  74,  75. 

.'olitical  Ideals,  153. 

Polytheism  :  in  the  time  of  Abraham, 
55;  Akkadian,  70,  75,  173,  174; 
Hindu,  225. 

Porphyry,  83. 

Prayer:  usefulness,  102  ;  defined,  103; 
idea  of  Stoics,  127,  157;  simple, 
155  ;  to  Ormazd,  195  ;  about  death, 
213-215;  proper  mood  for,  284; 
to  the  unknown  God,  318,  319. 

Prince  Ptahhotep's  Teachings,  18. 

Proclus,  88. 

Prophets,  on  future  life,  48. 

Psalms  of  David,  48,  174.  (See 
David.) 

Ptah,  12,  15. 

Punishment,  117.  (See  Hades,  Judg- 
ment, Retribution. ) 

Puritans,  76,  77. 

Purity,  196.' 

Pythagoras,  102. 

Pythian  Games,  100. 

QuiNTus  Valerius,  104. 

Ra:  heart,  11  ;  rank,  12,  15;  hymn, 

13 ;    description,    18 ;    father,    25. 

(See  Ammon.) 
Ragozin,  63,  66. 
Records  of  the  Past,  24,  30,  56-59, 

63,  64,  66.     (See  Birch.) 
Redeemer,  Chinese,  287.     (See  /«- 

creaser,  Jesus,  Mediator,  Saviour). 


Religion  :  defined,  i ;  development, 
2;  great  leap,  3;  purest  ideals,  4; 
Egyptian,  5-19;  divorced  from 
morality,  105 ;  of  Socrates  and 
Plato,  106-119;  progress,  290-29S. 
(See  Akkadian,  Buddhism,  Egyp- 
tian, Greek,  Hinduism,  Jewish, 
Zoroastriatiism . ) 

Renan,  on  Jahvch,  50. 

Renier,  on  inscriptions,  105. 

Renouf,  on  Egypt,  40. 

Resurrection,  29-35.  (See  Future, 
Heaven,  Immortality,  Judgment.) 

Retribution,  106.     (See  Punishment.) 

Revelation,  Book  of,  70. 

Revelation,  defined,  i.     (See  Bible.) 

Riches,  270. 

Righteousness,  10,  168,  177,  180, 
181. 

Rig  Veda,  198-216  fassitn.  (See 
Bhagavad-Gita,  Vedas.) 

Roman  People :  remote  from  F.g>'p- 
tian  civilization,  5,  8  ;  allusions  to 
Christianity,  5,  6;  errors  about 
Osiris,  22  ;  law,  72,  131,  163;  Mys- 
teries, 79,  80 ;  thinkers,  89 ;  de- 
spondency, 125,  126;  pantheism, 
161  ;  milder  opinions,  162  ;  influ- 
enced by  Egypt,  171;  habits  not 
affected  by  religion,  177. 

Rome,  City  of,  Paul  and  Seneca, 
134- 


Sabbath,  71,  78. 

Sacrifice  :  human,  6;  Osiris,  20. 

Saints,  264. 

Sakya  Muni,  251,  252. 

Samothracian  Tribes,  85. 

Sargon  the  Great,  52,  66. 

Satan,  185,  189,  190,  194-196,  199. 
(See  Ahriman.) 

Saviour :  the  Increaser,  186 ;  ser- 
pent-destroyer, 187,  194,  195;  Hin- 
du. 217,  218.  (See  Jesus,  Messiah, 
Redeemer.) 


334 


INDEX. 


Sayce's  Lectures,  51,  54,  56,  61,  62, 
66,  76,  77,  299. 

Schlagintweit,  on  Buddhism,  224. 

Schrader's  Writings,  50,  53,  56,  63, 
66. 

Sebak,  12. 

Seinecke's  Writings,  75. 

Self:  examination,  148,  156;  respect, 
158;  conquest,  26S. 

Selfish  Good,  265., 

Semitic  Races  :  spiritual  impres- 
sions, 4;  self-existent  God,  10,  11  ; 
enslaved,  42 ;  Egyptian  influence, 
48,  49 ;  herdsmen,  47 ;  Assyrians, 
51,  52,  68,  172  ;  Hebrews,  54  ; 
Akkadian  mixture,  55 ;  sin,  64 ; 
influences,  67  ;  deity,  68  ;  com- 
mon origin,  70,  174  ;  revolt  in 
heaven,  71 ;  tribal  movements,  77  ; 
branches,  168;  sun-worship,  173. 

Senart,  on  Buddhism,  256,  257. 

Seneca:  quotations,  33,  130;  immor- 
tality, 118,  162;  imitation  of  deity, 
121  ;  monotheism,  125  ;  Stoicism, 
133-143,  161 ;  common  law  of  race, 
131  ;  age  and  career,  133,  134  ; 
unfaithfulness  to  principles,  139; 
death,  140-142;  sin,  142,  143; 
character,  165 ;  relation  to  Paul, 
306. 

Sensuality,  defended,  162. 

Serapis,  18. 

Serpent,  destroyed,  187.    (See  Satan.) 

Seti,  23,  40. 

Seven,  sacred  number,  53. 

Severus,  153. 

Sextus  Pyrrhus,  errors,  162. 

Siam,  239,  248. 

Signet-rings,  77. 

Simonides,  100. 

Simplicius,  120,  124,  130. 

Sinai,  45,  46. 

Sin :  sense  of,  59 ;  atoned,  63  ;  Sen- 
eca's view,  142,  143  ;  Hindu  idea, 
202,  203.  (  See  Evil,  Original, 
Satan.) 


Sky-god,  95.     (See  Zens.) 

Slavery  :  illustration,  42,  43  ;  relation 
to  Buddhism,  242,  249. 

Smith's  Translation,  93. 

Social  Evil,  241-243,  277. 

Socrates:  death,  72,  116,  161;  mys- 
teries, 84,89;  doctrines,  89;  reli- 
gion, 106-119,  179,  180 ;  relation  to 
Plato,  107 ;  philosophy,  108  ;  good 
fighting,  109;  morals,  113;  conclu- 
sions, 117;  immortality,  118;  citi- 
zenship, 129;  Egyptian  influence, 
171  ;  follower,  231  ;  method,  237, 
2S0 ;  Persian  influence,  294. 

Solon,  90. 

Son  of  God,  a,  144. 

Sophocles,  94-97. 

Soul,  prayer  for,  58. 

Spiegel,  on  Zend-Avesta,  194,  196. 

Spirit,  one  great,  14.     (See  God.) 

Spiritual  Body,  33-35. 

Spirituality  :  manifestation,  3  ;  con- 
tinuity, highest  form,  4 ;  in  wor- 
ship, 261  ;  power,  267. 

Spiritualism,  134. 

Stade's  Writings,  75. 

Stanley,  Dean,  75. 

Star,  prayer  to,  195. 

Stoa,  133. 

Stobaeus,  93,  124. 

Stoics :  monotheism,  89,  90 ;  disci- 
ples of  Plato  and  Socrates,  118 
views,  120-181  ;  principles,  121 
122;  spirituality,  123;  last  saint 
124  ;  popular  estimate,  125-127 
submission,  125,  126;  churches, 
crown,  127;  imperial  saint,  128 
motto,  relation  to  deity,  129 ; 
father  of,  on  virtue,  130  ;  harsh 
ness,  131  ;  human  brotherhood 
131,  163;  enthusiasm,  132,  13S 
deacons  and  martyrs,  132  ;  faith 
133;  great  doctrine,  136;  re 
lation  to  Christianity,  136,  164- 
166 ;  principles  not  carried  out 
139;    death,    140;    writings,    144- 


INDEX. 


335 


i66;  Epictetus,  144-151  ;  independ- 
ence, 144;  a  sou  of  God,  144; 
divine  master,  145,  151  ;  suicide, 
145;  divine  fatherhood,  146,  149; 
divine  praise,  146;  survival  of  the 
best,  wealth,  divine  union,  147  ; 
self-examination,  the  divine  will, 
148;  creator,  149;  pious  friends  of 
deity,  150;  freedom,  151  ;  universe, 
156;  prayer,  157  ;  failure,  161  ;  de- 
fects, 161,  162;  heroes,  162;  in- 
fluence gone,  163  ;  effect  upon 
Augustine,  163,  164;  curious  study, 
166;  unsatisfactory,  180;  follies, 
181  ;  influence  over  apostles,  301 ; 
over  Paul,  304,  306 ;  familiar 
thought,  306. 

Suicide,  145,  161. 

Sun:  symbol  of  deity,  17;  boat,  26, 
37;  worship,  173,  293;  prayer, 
195  ;  early  idea,  290. 

Sun- god  :  message,  11  ;  Osiris,  26; 
prayer,  36,  69,  70 ;  Merodach,  61  ; 
hymn,  63,  64. 

Sun-myths:  added  to  original  story, 
3 ;  in  Christianity,  7  ;  in  Buddh- 
ism, 256,  257. 

Superstition,  wrongly  attributed  to 
Christianity,  6. 

Survival  of  the  Best,  147. 

Sutra,  265. 

Symbolism:  Egyptian,  5,  6;  Chris- 
tian misunderstood,  6  ;  carried  to 
extremes,  8. 


Tacitus,  135,   136. 
Talbot's  Translation,  71. 
Tauler,  235. 

Taylor's  translation,  81,  88. 
Teaching  of  Twelve  Apostles,  302. 
Teletai,  word  used  by  Paul,  78. 
Temperance,  among  Buddhists,  240. 
Tcnnent,  on  Ceylon,  251. 
Tennyson's    Poetry,    125,    167,    296, 
297,  318. 


Terpander,  90,  91. 

Terry,  on  India,  309,  310. 

Theban  Inscriptions,  12,  13,  19. 

Theism,  cold,  161. 

Theologia  Germanica,  233-236. 

Theon,  88. 

Thibet  and  its  Religion,  240,  243, 
252,  274. 

Thoth:  texts,  9;  existence,  10;  man- 
ifestation of  God,  II ;  figure,  12; 
deific  rank,  15;  logos,  27;  divine 
spirit,  30;  life-giver,  t,t„  34. 

Thought  and  Sorrow,  261. 

Tiele's  Writings,  75. 

Time  and  Space,  mystically  viewed, 

235- 
Tolerance  in  Religion,  288. 
Transmigration,  199,  222. 
True  Treasures,  270. 
Truth :  symbolized,  10 ;  divinity,  14  ; 

essence  of  life,  17  ;  Osiris,  19. 
Tum :     tongue,     11  ;     defined,     12; 

praised,  16. 
Turanian  Race,  51. 
Typhon,  22,  23,  30. 


Uhleman,  on  Egypt,  24,  25,  50. 
Ulpian,  on  freedom,  131. 
Upham,  on  Sacred  Books,  246. 
Upanishad,  208,  209,  216. 
Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  64,  65,  73,  76. 

Varro,  on  Jove,  T04. 

Varuna,  204-207,  221,  291;. 

Vaughan's  Crescent  and  Cross,  241. 

Vedas  :  hymns,  198,  201 ;  divine 
unity,  200 ;  morals,  202 ;  date, 
210 ;  should  be  quoted  by  mis- 
sionaries, 312. 

Virtue,  personified,  164. 

Wealth,  147.  (See  Riches.) 
Weber,  on  Brahmanism,  209. 
Wellhausen's  Writings,  75. 


336 


INDEX. 


Williams,  Monier,  History  of  Relig- 
ious Thought,  200,  201,  209,  215, 
224. 

Wisdom,  personified,  iii.  (See 
Logos. ) 

Woman  :  elevation,  242  ;  education, 
250. 

Word  of  God  :  Egyptian  and  Scrip- 
tural view,  9-1 1  ;  in  Chinese  wor- 
ship, 285. 

World,  268. 

Worship:  true,  219;  Buddhistic, 
284-287.     (See  Liturgies,  Prayer.) 


Xenophanes,  92. 

Xenophon,  112,  113. 

Xerxes,  1S9. 

Xnum:     defined,    12;     deific    rank, 

15- 
Xoper  :  defined,  10  ;  rank,  44  ;  rela- 
tion  of  worshippers  to   Christian 
apostles,  301. 


Zeller,  on  Stoicism,  129. 
Zend-Avesta,  i^2-i()j  passim  ;  mean- 
ing, 188;  childishness,  191. 
Zeno,  127,  128,  130,  131. 


Zeus:  allusions,  81-83,  i°5;  hymns, 
81-83.  95.  96,  123,  124;  spiritual 
deity,  90-103,  301  ;  attributes,  90; 
eye,  92;  fatherhood,  93,  149,  1S8; 
face  on  coins,  94  ;  prayers,  94,  95, 
102,  103,  155;  all-in-all,  98,  99; 
governed  by  fate,  106 ;  mind  of  the 
universe,  iii  ;  not  responsible  for 
sin,  119;  to  be  followed,  121,  122 
desires  for  humanity,  124,  12S 
human  ideal,  126;  city,  129,  154 
kindred,  147, 148;  conscience-giver, 
155;  will,  164;  forgotten,  170;  ideal 
lowered,  178;  heaven-god,  18S ; 
Greek  poetry,  20S ;  old  idea,.  292  ; 
influencing  Paul,  304,  305.  (See 
God.) 

Zoroaster :  divine  conversations, 
192-197;  character,  197;  disci- 
ples influencing  apostles,  301. 

Zoroastrianism  :  literature,  175; 
purity,  180;  chapter,  182-197;  the 
Increaser,  186  ;  original  deity,  lit- 
urgies, 188 ;  struggle  between  },ood 
and  evil,  189,294;  duality,  190; 
morals,  189;  revelations,  191; 
charity,  192  ;  conscience,  192,  193; 
creator,  193,  194;  lust,  196;  the 
Saviour,  194-196. 


Y 


